To mark International Men’s Day, leadership coach and author Anthony Francis reflects on the severe lack of awareness in men’s health issues. He shares why and how employers can encourage men to talk more about their health at work.
From my own health experiences, discussions with others, watching or listening to social media and advertisements we see everywhere, there is one that has become very apparent. Men’s health is not something that is really talked about much. In fact, it’s practically a taboo topic. Why is that?
Male stereotypes of men being hunter-gatherers, or the one who is responsible for looking after their family – that of a provider and protector – doesn’t help. In fact, this can sadly also be a burden for men, as it means they very rarely show their vulnerability. It can also mean that if they aren’t feeling well or have a problem they will just carry on, and just shrug it off as “oh, it’s nothing.” Or I”’ll look into later”, without dropping that shield of vulnerability.
On the other hand women, tend to be more open and happy to discuss health matters with their girlfriends, GP, or their partners. This is also normalised in advertisements and social media, where they show women relating to all sorts of health-related matters from maternal to health issues, such as breast cancer. Yet the same does not happen for men. It seems that there’s an advertising taboo around men’s health issues.
MEN’S HEALTH TABOO TOPICS
Ask yourself when was the last time you heard or saw an advert specifically directed at men’s health? I’ve never been one to shy away from talking about stuff, with men or women. However, I have noticed that in my male circles, we very rarely talk about our health issues. When it comes to money, we also say things like “yeah, we could do with more of that”. But we won’t say if we’re actually struggling, or need help. Why?
I began to ponder more on this after going to my doctor a few years ago with a groin pain. The pain turned out to be nothing, but my persistence led my doctor to eventually refer me for a scan. The scan came back negative, and for a while I was content. However, I still felt that something wasn’t quite right. Then upon a similar occurrence sometime later my doctor decided to refer me to see a urology consultant. Following this consultation, further tests and an MRI scan, I was told I had early stages of prostate cancer.
Fast forward to today, and because my prostate cancer was localised and caught in its early stages, it allowed me to have a single procedure that has an over 90% success rate of getting rid of the cancer altogether.
PROSTATE CANCER
Now this is good news for me, but it got me thinking about when I was telling my family and friends, especially my male friends who are predominately from an ethnic minority background. Many were either not aware of prostate cancer, or felt a little uneasy talking about personal health issues.
It should be noted that at the time of writing there are around 12,000 prostate cancer deaths in the UK every year; making it the second most common cause of cancer death in males in the UK. So the question is why aren’t men talking more about their health, and why are there so few advertisements around men’s health?
Is it because so few men visit their GPs and so don’t talk with other men about their experiences? Or is it because there is so little in the media encouraging men to both talk and learn more about men’s health?
TAKING PREVENTATIVE ACTION
The reason for sharing my personal health story is to encourage more men to take stock and not be ashamed or scared to either visit their GP to talk about any concern they may have. I also want to encourage a wider discussion around men’s health, the things we can do to help prevent illnesses, and where to go to discuss men’s health without feeling uncomfortable or ashamed of being vulnerable.
It’s also important for men to become more aware of the conditions like prostate cancer, that may affect them as they get older, and to ask their GP to talk with them about PSA tests as part of their annual check-ups. I want to encourage men to talk more and share their experiences with other men, so it becomes less of a taboo topic to feel vulnerable. After all, men aren’t immune to becoming sick and dying. We want to prevent unavoidable deaths by helping men take preventative action, and discuss their health concerns before it’s too late.
MACHO MENTALITY
For us men, there is a very macho image of invincibility, that of the hunter- gatherer, and ‘we can do it all’ mentality. However, we can’t do it all. We do get sick. We are vulnerable and we do need help. In short, we need to do more to raise awareness around men’s health, and to encourage more discussions.
It’s also important to be more open with our partners if we have any concerns, and we need the same organisations that discuss women’s health issues, to give as much air time and investment to men’s health matters too. We need men’s health to become more ‘mainstream’ to help prevent more avoidable deaths. We don’t want men to die from ignorance or a lack of information; it’s time for men to talk about their health.
HOW EMPLOYERS CAN HELP
So why should organisations talk more about cancer, and what can they do to help raise awareness for men, and in particular about prostate cancer? Well, it doesn’t matter where or how you hear we hear the word cancer – nobody likes to talk about it since it affects so many lives.
Organisations and workplaces can play a huge role to help raise awareness of men’s health and encourage conversations in safe spaces to fight the stigma of cancer and other men’s health issues. It is estimated that only a small percentage of cancers are caused by inherited faulty genes (about two or three of every 100 cases). However, making simple lifestyle changes can prevent four out of 10 cancers. There is a lot of useful readily available information for cancers relating to women, as well as a number of well-known charities that hold annual cancer awareness events.
However, that’s not the case for men. It may surprise you, to know that in the UK, one in eight men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Therefore it is vital that greater awareness of this condition, is both known and talked about.
Events like Prostate Cancer Awareness month, which takes place every March, raise awareness of the most common cancers in men, but more is needed to prevent men from dying from this disease.
MEN’S HEALTH MATTERS
So what can companies and employers do to raise awareness of men’s health issues?
1. Set a fitness challenge
Obesity and an inactive lifestyle increase our risk of developing cancer. To spread awareness about this, host a fitness challenge at work. It could be something as simple as taking the stairs in place of the lift. Or as challenging as a 5k run. Depending on the general fitness levels of your co-workers, you can decide on what will work best.
2. Support a cancer/health event
Throughout the year, there are months and dates dedicated to specific types of cancers. Your organisation can select one of these events to support at a local or global level. Each type of cancer has a specific colour ribbon to denote it. So you can build activities around wearing that colour, making posters about that specific type of cancer, etc to create awareness. For example, 4 February Is World Cancer Day. March is Prostate Cancer Awareness month. April is dedicated to testicular cancer; and June is Cancer Survivors Month.
3. Host a fundraiser
You can organise a fundraising activity for a local cancer hospital, a cancer palliative care centre, or a cancer research institute.
4. Set a photo challenge
With photo challenges gaining popularity on social media, why not use them to spread cancer awareness. For example, you could wear the colour of the type of cancer you support and upload a picture, tagging and encouraging others to do the same.
5. Invite a cancer survivor to your workplace to share their experience
A way of breaking down misconceptions, and creating better awareness is to invite a cancer survivor to come and share their story. This can be in-house or a virtual event. They can share their cancer journey and how they overcame the many problems they faced during treatment and recovery. It is likely that their story will inspire your co-workers and encourage them to take action of their own.
RESOURCES
Finally, there are a number of useful websites that men can visit to learn more about their health or condition:
1. For more about your health and impact on you as you get older, Ageing Better is a good starting point.
2. Learn about prostate cancer, its symptoms and what you can do from Prostate Cancer UK.
3. For younger males sites like Young Minds are a good starting point.
4. The government also provides valuable resources for men that can be found here.
5. There are a number of men’s health forum sites like Men’s Health Forum that are very informative.
6. Black and Asian men should check out Black Mens Health.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Anthony Francis, is a certified transformational coach, who works with individuals, business owners and entrepreneurs striving for success. He has over 20 years of professional successful project management experience, having managed multi-million pound partnerships and projects in the UK and abroad. He has also authored the management book Think It Plan It Do It Now!
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