Strokes are, in most people’s opinions, a medical condition that affects only the elderly.  In fact, a stroke can occur at any age.  It can happen to infants or children or any time in between.  It is true, however, that advancing age is a risk factor.  With every decade of age, the risk factor for a stroke doubles – and men are just as at risk for them as women.

There are two different kinds of strokes.  If a blood vessel bursts or leaks, this is a hemorrhagic type of stroke.  In the event of a blockage of an artery, this type of stroke is ischemic.  The ischemic kind of stroke accounts for 80 % of strokes.  Usually, an artery to the brain, such as the carotid artery, becomes narrowed due to plaque.

There is a precursor, often, to a stroke, called a transient ischemic attack.  These are often referred to as mini-strokes.  The warning signs and symptoms of a stroke often occur with a transient ischemic attack, or a TIA.

The transient nature of the signs and symptoms you experience with a TIA, can cause people to ignore them once they go away instead of seeking medical help.  The signs and symptoms of a TIA include:  a sudden or severe headache, the inability to form words, visual disturbances, trouble walking, swallowing or moving a limb, or numbness.

Time is so important in the treatment of a stroke.  A stroke is the interruption of blood flow to the brain.  Within a few seconds, the brain is deprived of oxygen and brain cells can die which will leave permanent damage.

For people who experience a TIA, the statistics look like this.  About half of the strokes that ensue after a TIA will occur within 48 hours.  Ten percent of people who have had a TIA will have a stroke within three months.

Treatment for a TIA can include surgery for clogged carotid arteries or an angioplasty or stents.  Medications can include blood thinners and clot busting drugs.  The clot busting drugs must be given within 4.5 hours of the symptoms to be effective.

Risk factors for a stroke include high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, smoking, family history of stroke, physical inactivity, illicit drug use and aging.  Birth control pills taken by women who smoke, especially if they are over 35, is a risk factor for clots and strokes.

Also, women have a higher risk of stroke during pregnancy.  The physical effects of a stroke can be devastating.  At the worst, the outcome of a stroke can be fatal.  The permanent damage, if you survive a stroke, can be paralysis, speech and language problems, visual problems, breathing difficulties or problems with swallowing.

If you have high blood pressure or diabetes, get it under control as soon as possible.  If you are obese, lose weight.  Smokers should quit the habit.  If you experience any of the signs and symptoms of a stroke, even if they go away, get to an emergency room for treatment.

Strokes are on of the major reasons for long term disabilities in adults and more than 135,000 people die from strokes each year.

We’ve all battled the bulge at one point or another. For ladies, it’s usually their butt, thighs and gut that they want to wittle down. For guys, it’s usually our bellies that we want to get rid of. No guy likes having to contend with pushing his gut down into his pants, or having to buy the next size up in pants just to accomodate his growing pooch.

Speaking of “pooch”, one of the ways you can avoid gaining weight is to have a furry friend around that you can take on walks – namely a dog.  Studies have shown that guys that have a dog are more likely to be more active and maintain a healthy weight.  When you have an animal that has to be walked or else he/she will climb that walls – and make you climb the walls – you are more likely to get out and truck it.

If you have a significant other, hopefully weight maintenance is important to them as it is to you. If your spouse or partner is not into maintaining their weight or not very health conscious, then you are likely to follow suit. Partners really are responsible for eachother’s behavior, and studies show that when one is willing the misbehave, the other one follows.

Throw away any junk food you have. This includes chips, dip, salty ready made snacks that are not at least low in fat and high in fiber (a good snack would be classified as something like baked corn chips and salsa).  Not having readily available junk food around the house makes for less temptation. The less temptation you have around the house at your fingertips, the less likely you are to veer off the road to health.

Get a workout partner. Guys like to have workout partners.  I know that many women say their husbands work out more and hit the weight bench when they’ve got a buddy who likes to do the same tag along with them. Men are very much like women in this sense, they like to have a social partner to egg them on.

In addition to hitting the gym more, hit the water bottle more often as well. Water helps you feel full, and can aid in the digestion of food in the right amounts as well.  Water is essential to energizing the body and making you feel refreshed and ready to go. Fatigue makes you a couch potato, and chronic dehydration can only add to your lack of energy and ambition.

When it comes to depression, which is of course one of the most common, and hard to treat, mental health issues, men and women tend to exhibit the symptoms of this unfortunate mood disorder a little differently.

While some things are exactly the same in depression with men and depression with women, there are a few that are pretty much standard with both sexes. The first that happens in both sexes is fatigue and a general lack of energy. This happens because often times men and women who are depressed feel that sleeping their day away may help them forget their troubles.

Also, the lack of feel good chemicals coursing through one’s body account for the lack of energy, and often of ambition.

Another common symptom that men and women share alike in depression is apathy.  They may seem to be generally apathetic toward things they once liked or enjoyed. A hobby that was once beloved may not seem as important to them, or they may question why they ever even enjoyed the activity.

Now, on to some of the key differences in how men exhibit depression symptoms differently from women. Women often will act down, or project their misery openly by moping around or just not seeming like themselves.

Instead, men can often explode in anger and become more irritable. This is a marked difference between the two, since it is pretty pronounced and consistent in most men and women.  They also may express a lack of interest in sex with their partner, or have problems with impotence, which unfortunately makes them feel even worse.

Men also may experience things like stomach aches and back aches, which are typically just associated with physical problems, not mental, when they are depressed. Women may have this sometimes too, but men seem to get this one a little more often than women. They may not even realize that this is why they are feeling badly physically.

Closely related to a previous one we talked about, stress is also commonly reported, and misinterpreted by depressed men. They think they are simply experiencing high stress levels when they are really experiencing depression.  This tends to go hand in hand though, so it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.

When it comes to men and the “macho” behavior that they sometimes tend to indulge in, or are compelled to take part in (especially under peer pressure or if they come from a particularly agressive family background of men), being this way may actually not bode well for your life span.

A recent study commissioned by the University of Omaha and published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, suggests that men who exhibit macho behavior may be more likely to die in accidents than their less agressive male counterparts.

If you think about it, agressive, or ballsy behavior tends to not be too good for your health. I like to think of examples like being at a bar and having someone pick a fight with you. Do you take the high road of passivity and leave the situation, or do you feel compelled to stay and defend your manly honor?

‘Cause if your answer if you feel compelled to stay and not let someone make a fool of you, that’s the type of behavior that might get you in trouble. It could cut your life short or get your hurt.

Another example is stepping up to dangerous challenges. Even something as simple as having honor, being a man and fighting for your country, and being willing to die for you countery in the military during war time. That type of thought pattern can definitely cut your life short, even though it is hailed as heroid by the large population.

Men who feel that it is their masculine duty to defend themselves, or defend someone else close to them, tend to be more likely to put themselves in harm’s way just to save face or to be the protector of people.

Mashismo is something that some guys can leave behind when they grow up. I know lots of guys who once used to get in bar fights and be much more agressive. Now, they’ve mellowed with age and perhaps with wisdom as well.

Some guys don’t ever grow out of the super testosterone filled agression and machismo though. They may have been brought up to believe that is the way that men are supposed to act, and learning something at a young age like that is very difficult to unlearn.

Of course, we are living in a day and age where metrosexuality is a little more accepted though. Men can expose their softer, more feminine side these days without the same repercussions they had only a few decades ago.

However, not all regions of the country have been so progressive in their masculine thought, and those are the populations where men are more likely to have their lives cut short because of it.

Africa is still completely inundated with cases of HIV and full blown AIDS. It is a true epidemic over there – worse than we’ve ever seen here in the US. They are constantly trying to create vaccines, treatments, and life extending drug programs as well as educate the population about prevention.

However, it has failed to do what it was meant to do, which is to deeply curtail the new cases. True, they are much more educated over there on how to protect themselves, but it is so far advanced that a great percentage of the population has it.

AIDS, as you probably well know, is the advanced version of HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is basically the point at which it is no longer just a present virus, but it starts to really destroy the  body’s immune system.

Today we have come up with AZT, which is a drug that greatly extends the life of many who have gotten the sexually transmitted disease (which can be transmitted by other means as well, namely through blood). However, this drug must be taken for life and it is very expensive and not available to everyone.

Now, scientists have come up with a way they think they can stop the transmission of HIV from heterosexual to heterosexual. Why is it only seemingly effective this way though?

They don’t exactly get into that part. However, I’d assume it has something to do with the inherent differences between anal sex and vaginal sex.  The great thing about these two drugs that can be taken not only as an AIDS treatment, but also as a preventive measure in couples where one partner is HIV positive, is that they now may be able to conceive a child.

Many couples where one person has HIV and the other does not only previously had the safe choice of either not having sex at all or having sex with condoms, where obviously the woman could not get pregnant and the couple have children if she wanted to.

Now, with the two drugs, if the couple both takes them regularly, their risk of transmission from one to another can be reduced by up to 73%, which is quite significant.

The drug would effective act as a sort of vaccination for the person that does not have the disease. However, there is still that small risk of transmission that they have to think about, and that’s gotta be hard on the mind.

Men go through a very similar thing when it comes to the “change of life” cycle that occurs in women who are over the age of fifty, called menopause.  It’s increasingly recognized as a real phenomenon for men, whereas just a few years ago the idea the men go through a male menopause would have been laughed at.

It’s kind of like female PMS, some doctors don’t really believe it’s a true issue, and others know wholeheartedly that it is. There is no doubt that men, as they age, come upon a time when their bodies simply stop producing a very important male hormone that makes their bodies do a lot of things that, well, make them a man in the first place.

Women experience the same thing during menopause. Their estrogen levels go down, and estrogen is the female hormone that accounts for many female characteristics such as full lips, breast development, a higher pitched voice, and more.

Testosterone, the male dominant hormone, which by the way also occurs in women, just in smaller amounts, is the hormone that behaves the same way in the male body as estrogen does in the female body.

Testosterone makes men’s voices deeper, it makes them have a much higher libido, develop stronger, larger muscle mass, and also makes them more agressive typically (a common male behavior that is less expressed in females).

Testosterone deficiencies that occur in men with aging result in several rather worrisome traits to a lot of men, especially those that treasure their sex life.  It can reduce sex drive, result in depression, scrambled thoughts, and it can result in an increased percentage of body fat in the abdomen and upper body.

Now, here’s the good news about male menopause, or what is otherwise known as andropause.  It actually occurs a lot more slowly than estrogen deficiency does in women who experience menopause. For this reason, it’s really not “diagnosed” all that often, and is sometimes even doubted that it is a real disorder.

Men who think they may be going through a more severe “andropause” or male menopause can visit their primary doctor and see what their options are. The doctor may prescribe them to go to an endocrinologist, or some other similar specialist, who can test their hormone levels.

There is such a thing as testosterone therapy, where a guy is dosed with testosterone hormone until his levels go back up, but as with any other hormone therapy, there are risks and side effects involved, so it’s important to take this consideration to heart.

One of the most common complaints that we hear about why we don’t workout is that we just do not have enough time to fit in an exercise session on a routine basis.  And guys are one of the biggest offenders.

Another thing about working out and men, is that many guys do not stretch enough or they do not stretch at all, which is one of the surefire ways to get yourself injured and out of commission for a while, no matter what your workout or sport is.

Therefore, when we do get our chance to work out, we want to get the most out of our time spent as we possibly can.  Following proper form while working out can help you to maximize the benefits and lower the risk of sprains, strains and injuries.

Gradually increase your workout as you gain strength.  This isn’t something you can do overnight, but if you are, for example, weight lifting, you can gradually increase to slightly heavier weights and slowly add more reps of each exercise.

Keep your face relaxed and tension free while working out and look ahead at eye level to spare yourself straining your neck.  Drop and relax your shoulders and don’t hunch them forward and contract them.  Lift and raise your chest slightly and lengthen your spine. 

Tightening your abdominal muscles as your internal girdle to minimize the risk of injury to your back.  This is especially important for guys who weight lift on a bench, and tend to arch their back.   Your abdominal muscles protect your lower back so use that to your advantage.

The position of your knees while you are working out is important to your form while working out also.  Slightly bend your knees and don’t lock them in a straight position.  Avoid holding your breath while doing strength training exercises.

Make a conscious effort to breath by counting your reps out loud and as you inhale, relax your lower abdomen. Exhale by sucking in your abdomen and forcing the air out.

Don’t stop moving in between exercises.  If you want to get the full benefit for your heart rate, keep on moving, don’t stop completely.  Even if movement isn’t as strenuous in between reps, it will keep your heart rate up.

Remember these simple principles of form so that when you do find the time for a workout, your health will get the maximum out of every minute you’ve spent.

Many men who either have recurrent, chronic problems with their prostate function, or who have had prostate cancer and whose limited options include prostate removal, say many times their quality of life declines after they have this gland removed.

The prostate gland is a male specific organ that is responsible for several male specific functions. When the prostate is enlarged, it can cause difficulty in urinating and even pain.  The prostate can really be a class A pain in the butt, that’s for sure, and it also is one of the primary organs that is susceptible to cancer in men.

For this reason, this very important little organ must be well cared for. There are some prostate health supplements on the market that can help you take care of yourself, but the best way is to eat a really healthy, well balanced diet and to make sure you keep your weight controlled, stress under control, and that you get plenty of exercise and antioxidants.

A prostatectomy removes a lot of a man’s ability to get sexually aroused, and sometimes can even inhibit his sexual function, resulting in various forms and levels of sexual dysfunction, from low libido to impotence.  About half the men who have their prostate removed say that they have been negatively affected in some way by its removal.

That is to be expected. However, when it is a life or death situation, the obvious answer is to remove the organ that is causing the problems.  On the flip side, many men also feel that they were easily able to regain their libido and also their mental health after the removal. 

Most men said they regained the ability to control their urination and their bladder, and did not suffer with problems of incontinence any more after the removal of the prostate.

These tough economic times we’ve been living in since it became apparent we had a problem in mid 2008 have been hard on everyone. Single people, married people with kids, and especially affected have been men. Therefore, the recession has been affectionately coined as the “mancession”.

The reason for this catchy phrasing is that men have actually been much more affected by this recession in their livelihoods than women have. Typically manly jobs like construction and phyical labor jobs in manufacturing have been the most impacted, which blue collar jobs have been less impacted, and those are the ones that women typically hold.

In short, more men than women have lost their jobs and had to seek employment elsewhere than women. Since many times, still in this day and age of women’s lib, men are still viewed as the primary breadwinners in families, this has been tough on men’s self esteem.

Much of men’s self esteem is still tied to his livelihood and how much money he brings in to a family. Changing roles with his partner may alter that perception of themselves, and they are starting to see that men are experiencing more depression because of that.

Since women are out in the workforce more, and are keeping their jobs more easily, men have been left to be the housekeepers and to watch the children. We are seeing a lot of “Mr. Moms” out there today, to quote the famous 1980′s movie with Michael Keaton and Terri Gar. 

It’s an interesting role reversal we are seeing today.  It used to be that women who were stay at home mothers experienced a lot of depression because they felt “tied to” their homes and a role that may not have been 100% gratifying back in the 40′s and 50′s. 

Men are now experiencing that more and more, and many psychologists feel that they may be seeing a surge in not only marital strife because of it, but also in male depression.

I really like this comparison.  Mostly because I myself am a drinker.

I don’t drink all the time or anything, but I do like to drink a cocktail or some beers pretty much every weekend.

I know there is a lot of controversy over whether drinking alcoholic beverages is good for your health or not.

One week you hear that people who drink live longer, the next you hear that even one drink a week adds to your risks of premature death, various types of cancer and so on and so forth.

Basically, you have to live in a bubble according to some studies, in order to have a long, happy life. I subscribe a little to both theories, and my biggest theory is that moderation is king when it comes to most anything having to do with your health and wellness.

A very controversial conclusion that a scientist has come to has some saying that it’s a dangerous theory. Mostly because it claims that drinkers, and particularly binge drinkers, may actually be of higher intelligence than non drinkers.

What do you think? In your life, of all the intelligent people around you, do more intelligent people imbibe on a regular basis, or do they shun the alcoholic drink?  In my personal life, I notice that there is absolutely no consistency and no correlation.

I know a total mixed bag, and can’t really correlate drinkers to intelligence, or vice versa, so it’s hard for me to say that I believe this hook line and sinker.

The scientists who came to this controversial conclusion actually said that men and women who drink usually tend to be very intelligent as children. And his study showed that these children tend to grow into adults who have a proclivity for spirits. 

The theory is that intelligent people tend to look for ways to expand their creativity and get into altered states to experience more sensations and garner that intense creativity that can come with moderate drinking or even binge drinking. What do you think does this theory hold water, or is it all hot air?