Men's Health Archive

Men diagnosed with slow-growing prostate tumors that likely won’t be harmful during their lifetimes can often avoid immediate treatment. Instead, they can have their tumor monitored using a strategy called active surveillance. With this approach, doctors perform periodic checks for tumor progression and start treatment only if the cancer begins to metastasize, or spread. Active […]

Heart attacks strike men at younger ages than women. But survival rates are worse in women. Why?

Compared with men, women are less likely to recognize and act upon the symptoms of a heart attack.
Image: zaganDesign/Thinkstock

Imagine someone in the throes of a heart attack. If you picture a man clutching his chest in agony, that's understandable. At younger ages, men face a greater risk of heart disease than women. On average, a first heart attack—the most common manifestation of this prevalent disease—strikes men at age 65. For women, the average age of a first heart attack is 72.

Retirement is your reward for a long work life, but research suggests that continuing to work in some way may offer a big payday for your health.

Image: Thinkstock

If you are retired, or counting the days, you may want to rethink leaving the workforce behind forever. Recent research has found that seniors who continue to work after age 65 are healthier than retirees.

"For many men, work defines who they are, and they still need to benefit from something meaningful and productive as they age, whether it's in their current job or field or something new," says Dr. William S. Pollack, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "Work can boost confidence, self-esteem, and happiness, all of which can help men stay active and live longer."

A study in the December 2015 issue of The Lancet Oncology found that a new test, called STHLM3, is more helpful at detecting aggressive cancer than traditional tests for prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

The STHLM3 test is a blood test that analyzes a combination of six protein markers, more than 200 genetic markers, and various clinical data, such as age, family history, and previous prostate biopsies.

Here is one more way men and women are different: research published online Oct. 20, 2015 in Radiology found that male and female hearts do not age the same way.

For the study, researchers reviewed MRI heart scans performed on almost 3,000 older adults, ages 54 to 94, without existing heart disease. (Scans were given 10 years apart.) The scans showed that in both sexes, the main heart chamber—the left ventricle, which fills with and then forces out blood—gets smaller with time. As a result, less blood enters the heart, and less gets pumped out to the rest of the body.

Ask the doctor

Q: I have always had difficulty sleeping. Since I have taken to heart the advice for good sleep habits, I think I'm sleeping better, but I'm not sure. I'm in bed about 8.5 hours, but am often restless and get up to go to the bathroom a couple of times during the night. Is there a way to compute how much sleep I'm actually getting?

A: Adequate sleep is an important part of health. While the exact amount needed to maximize health and wellness is not totally clear, many experts recommend around seven to nine hours per night. Adequate sleep is associated with memory, improved mood, better weight control, improved diabetes control, greater resistance to colds, and fewer accidents.

They're convenient and affordable, but they don't replace a relationship with a primary care physician.

Walk into a drugstore, supermarket, or "big box" store these days, and you'll find more than prescriptions, food, and household goods. Many now feature health clinics. They're part of the big trend of making health care more convenient. "Twenty years ago you had to go to an emergency department if you got sick and needed immediate care. Now we have an explosion of options, such as retail health clinics," says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a researcher on the topic and an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

The clinics

Retail health clinics began showing up about 15 years ago. Today, there are about 2,000 clinics across the United States, mostly in large retail chain settings. A typical clinic is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, and is staffed by a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant. Clinics offer all kinds of health services—everything from treating minor illness like a cold, pinkeye, or a urinary tract infection to providing physicals, health screenings, lab work, smoking cessation help, and vaccinations.