October's Men's Health and Well-Being Symposium
– © 2001 by Andy Mickel
As an adult I've always made time for regular exercise: biking and running in my 20s to mid-30s, funk aerobics and weight training in my 40s and early 50s. In the last 15 years I began learning from regular visits to massage therapists, chiropractors and acupressurists much more about nutrition and how my body responds to my routine of daily living and working.
So what's a man to do if he wants to learn how to improve his health? If a man's health is "pretty good," where can he go to find out how to make it really good?
In conjunction with its 25th anniversary as an educational non-profit, Twin Cities social service agency, the Twin Cities Men's Center has decided to organize an all-day Twin Cities Men's Health and Well-Being Symposium (2001 MHWS) for Saturday, October 20th. The Symposium will be held on the downtown campus of Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
As an active Men's Center volunteer, I've engaged discussion on the idea of a one-day Twin Cities Men's Health Symposium over the last ten years. By bringing together health professionals, practitioners and men looking for health knowledge and wisdom, we can serve to educate and inspire men to improve their own health (self-care) and provide the means to achieve greater health and well-being.
The men in our lives are our fathers, sons, brothers and friends regardless of their age, status in life, education, color of their skin, or sexual orientation. Adopting a broad definition of health and well-being attracts the attention of most men.
Following from these broad approaches, some men's health and well-being issues that will be addressed at the 2001 MHWS are:
Since the mid-1970s, men's groups have highlighted a fundamental men's issue: in the USA, men die on the average of seven to nine years earlier than women. Contributing factors: Men work in the most dangerous jobs in our society; men have a higher rate of incarceration; men (traditionally) live higher-stress lives, and so forth. Men's health issues are topical: This year also sees the 2nd International Conference on Men's Health in California and the first World Congress on Men's Health (WCMH), "The Future of Men's Health" in Vienna, Austria.
My health is more than physical. I strive to spend equal time on the intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of my life as well. Over the years I've done emotional process work and developed a spiritual life.
In large numbers, we men are choosing wellness and holistic approaches to our health. The wellness approach emphasizes balanced living and taking personal responsibility for our health. Self-responsibility includes Nutritional Awareness, Stress Reduction, Environmental Sensitivity, and Physical Fitness. Holistic health in support of wellness focuses on nurturing our immune systems. Practicing balance in all aspects of our lives becomes paramount as is evident in this list of ways to support our immune systems:
Almost every life challenge can be viewed as a health issue. Ever wonder why slick media advertising appeals to young, urban professionals and their lust for immortality? Fear of dying shows up in our lives in many ways. Look at these facts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):
As of the end of 2000, men constitute 79% of the American HIV/AIDS-infected population. Fifty-nine percent of these are heterosexual.
Nearly as many men will die from prostate cancer (31,000) as do women from breast cancer (41,000) in the USA in 2001. Even though more men have prostate cancer, and it causes great discomfort, it usually takes 2-3 times as long to kill a man as breast cancer to kill a woman. This year, 6,900 American men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer.
In the USA in 2001, experts estimate, 445,000 men will die from heart disease. Remember that for heart disease, the first symptom experienced by half the victims is sudden death. The tragedy is that as much as 95 percent of them do not need to die prematurely.
Join us at the 2001 Twin Cities Men's Health and Well-Being Symposium (MHWS) this October 20th. See the conference insert in this issue for a detailed description!
Andy Mickel is conference coordinator for 2001 MHWS.
Andropause: Male Mid-Life Passage
– © 2001 by Jim Lovestar
A challenge to the health and well-being of men in the "boomer" generation now receiving the most attention is andropause or male mid-life passage. As women age they experience a well-recognized change of life, menopause. The changes in the aging man are often less obvious, but have a profound effect on his physical, emotional, and social life. The failure of our culture to give healthy recognition to these effects leaves a man feeling desperate and lost. With an understanding of male mid-life passage, men (and those who love them) can:
The intense self-questioning that accompanies this mid-life passage leads to withdrawal from others, attempts to live out unrealized dreams (think affairs with younger women and red sportscars), depression, self-medication, and erectile dysfunction (think limp). Some men experience hot flashes, night sweats, or difficulty sleeping.
I have described some of the aspects of this "crisis" from the perspective of a man experiencing it. What do people in that man's life see? They find him to be short-tempered and defensive. He may pull away from his regular means of support, quit his job, decline a promotion, divorce a woman he has been married to for many years, develop a drinking problem or engage in some other chemical abuse, engage in an affair with a woman or man (many married gay men finally act upon long suppressed desires during this time), suddenly put on weight by overeating, unexpectedly devote obsessive attention to his physical appearance through exercise or dieting, or behave recklessly while driving. The key words here are suddenly and unexpectedly.
The foregoing lists some of the destructive behaviors of a man in midlife. There are constructive behaviors, too. He may sober up, begin an exercise program, get out of an unhealthy marriage, come out of the closet, leave an oppressive job, start his own business, require more authenticity from those around him than he had before, move on from people in his life who held him back (a recent bumper-sticker sighting: Those Who Have Abandoned Their Dreams Will Discourage Yours), or take on a volunteer project.
Jim Lovestar co-founded the Men's Institute for Health and Well-Being in the Twin Cities in 1998.
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