Keeping healthy this Men’s Health week
The UK Men’s Health Week is held between 10th and 16th June this year. The Men’s Health Forum charity organises the annual event to raise awareness and generate donations for the charity. The extra funds are used to support health professionals and to provide vital information to men in general. Shockingly, one in every five men dies before he is old enough to retire! Factors ranging from poor diet, lack of exercise and a reluctance to ask for help all contribute to this issue.
Healthy habits
As more than 60% of the workforce at Interweave Healthcare are male, we thought it was important to raise the topic and see if the team knew about this shocking statistic. Which, by the way, no-one did!
We investigated into what everyone does to keep healthy. This is what they said:
General lifestyle
“Walking most days and a good long hike once in a while.”
“Spend at least an hour a day outdoors whenever possible.”
“Trying not to sweat the small stuff, aiming for as little stress as possible. I try to stay happy and relaxed at work“
“Do things in the evening to relax, listening to my favourite music, going for a drive.”
“Watching some comedy, having a laugh really helps to relax me.”
Diet
“I try to have meat free days at least once a week and only red meat once a week.”
“Switched pork sausages for vegetarian ones – not as satisfying but more guilt free!”
“I limit my intake of bread to maintain a healthy BMI”
“My wife makes a really good veggie soup once or twice a week to make sure I’m getting the right nutrients. I try to get 5 a day anyway – eating an apple at break time, I drink fruit juice at breakfast and generally will have a green veg with dinner.”
“I make my own crunchy salads to go with the BBQ meat in the summer, generally has lots of lettuce, radishes and red onions.”
Sleep
“Try my best to get 8 hours sleep whenever possible”
“Switching off the mobiles and leaving them away from the bed helps me go to sleep quicker”
“Reading a book in bed helps me to get a better night’s sleep.”
“I don’t drink any coffee after 3pm to make sure I’m not wired in the evening.”
“My fitbit tells me when to go to bed!”
“My wife and I take it in turns to look after the baby if she wakes up, on nights when she only wakes once I tend to get a full nights sleep – probably because I’m so tired. It won’t always be like this though”
Exercise
“Olympic Weightlifting Classes – good for strength and surprisingly flexibility.”
“I joined a Tag Rugby team – peer pressure from the rest of the team means no excuses!”
“Yoga classes three times a week – I have to go to the class because my wife is the instructor”
“Walking round the block at home every night – I always walk the route that doesn’t have the tempting pub halfway round!”
Once we’d quizzed everyone, we found that most of the men were reasonably health-aware and there already were some healthy activities going on. Maybe by raising awareness through this Men’s Health Week survey, more of the team will adopt more of these healthy activities for themselves.
After all, who wants to die before you’ve had chance to enjoy retirement!
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