Why Men's Health Is Neglected By Themselves And Others

As we probably all know, especially these days, that men do not take care of their health nearly as much as women.  Some of the biggest reasons is that traditionally, men were supposed to be the funding source for the family unit while women primarily focus on raising children -- the future of a nation or tribe. 

A major side effect of this is that men are told to "be strong" and hence neglect their health.  They are told to -- when needed -- fight in politicians' wars that traditionally was a tribal war.  These days nation-state wars are argueably far more frequent and organized than they were in the past tribal wars of thousands of years ago. 

Many men also tend to take very poor advice from their colleagues at work and other social places which frequently leads them down the path of apathy and eventually to the MD's office thinking their lives were saved when they "got sick."  The issue is they rarely understand why they got into that situation of "sick care" in the first place.  I myself had my mother interested in the field of systems biology, but she was less into the measuerment and systems science of things and more into the "mystical new age" side of it.  My father would frequently call her ideas on this and many other subjects as "out in left field" mainly because he didn't understand much of what she was saying and his friends were telling him the same thing.  Because of this and other factors he also became sick with alcoholism and other latent issues which precipitated the whole family falling into a violent ending.

Now nation states pay mostly men to join commercialized, nation-state armies for a pay cheque.  So, the concept that men have become disposable utilities is far less prevalent than thousands of years ago when men were the primary "bread-winners" of the household; that is, if men even choose to become married to females to reproduce children.  These days that is becoming far less frequent, yet men still maintain the idea that they must neglect their health and "be strong."  This is while women are given the idea that they must become independent from the media-touted idea that they must obtain their own paying work and concentrate even more on their health than before even while many of them cannot find males to establish families with children mainly because men are being told they are not necessary in this world, along with not taking care of their health as much as they should.  

As a consequence of this, many young children -- both male and female -- see what happens to the adults around them who become entangled in this system especially those who watch their parents divorce, which is becoming far more prevalent in the past.  The thorough research over the decades shows that despite the significant economic implications, many parents tend to overstate their happiness in order to justify their decision to have children. This indicates that them emotional rewards of parenting may not outweigh the long nights and financial responsibilities. As the economic worth of children has drastically declined, their emotional worth has soared, transforming them into the "child of no economic value but immeasurable emotional value" as Princeton sociologist Viviana Zelizer wrote in her book, "Pricing the Priceless Child" (Princeton University Press, 1994).

Young male children in particular see how the males in their lives are treated and eventually some of the begin to realize they do not receive proper health care, but instead receive "sick care" for the myriad of substance abuse issues that have been exponencially increasing over the decades mainly due to the lack of proper medical help as the parents age which inevitably results in personality problems, health problems that significantly increase the chances of family break-ups.

Many men strive to take control of various aspects of their lives, yet this often does not extend to their own well-being. The notion of being seen as weak for engaging in basic health-seeking behaviors is a stigma that we should strive to eradicate. According to the study, a significant portion of men, up to one-third, expressed their reluctance to seek information regarding private health matters. These private health concerns encompass conditions such as erectile dysfunction, chlamydia screening, urinary tract infections, and loss of libido. The primary reasons cited for not seeking information on serious health issues included a lack of discussion about health matters (13% of men surveyed) and discomfort in discussing health-related topics (13%).  Numerous individuals opt to postpone seeking assistance, anticipating that the problem will resolve on its own, and only take action when it starts to disrupt their everyday activities.

Research shows that women, both as producers and consumers, exhibit a higher inclination towards engaging with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and 'New Age' holistic spiritualities compared to men.  This is one of the large reasons many men shy away from it:  they rightly think most of what the women in their lives are subscribing to terms of validity are inaccurate.  The very concept of "new age" instills thoughts of an organized religion with dogmas and not many health results. This combined with the  fact it's mostly women they see in health magazines, as practitioners, and as recipients but not seeing many results.  The main reason is they see only singular modalities but not a systems approach to prevention and resolving health issues using a systems approach that botanist use for plants.

In order to delve into the reasons behind this phenomenon and explore the potential for challenging the traditional gender hierarchy and unequal power dynamics, a comprehensive literature review was conducted encompassing sociological and anthropological articles. By employing a systematic search across nine databases, supplemented by an informal search, we successfully identified a total of 114 articles, out of which 27 were deemed suitable for inclusion in our review. The review of literature highlights certain gaps that require gendered research in the future. These gaps include the absence of quantitative studies, insufficient data on the financial achievements of CAM practitioners, lack of studies that connect CAM with a feminist-oriented analysis of the medical world, inadequate comprehension of gender perceptions in the holistic milieu and CAM, and insufficient studies conducted from an intersectionality perspective.  

Commercialization & Meaningless "Holistic" Buzzwords Of Health Turns Males Off

According to Taylor (2010), the market of commercial products and services in the holistic milieu is also dominated by women. In the UK, women are more inclined to engage with the holistic milieu as both producers and consumers, with a four times higher likelihood than men (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005). Woodhead (2008) suggests that female clients are the primary users and practitioners of holistic spirituality.

Many men and women are still stuck in business of seeking singular modalities for their health concerns and often to practitioners such as chiropractors, massage therapists and others who traditionally have not had training or education in analyzing individual biochemistry of the body and linking it with lifestyle, diet, medication and supplement regimes, and the "conventional" sick-care system staffed with medical doctors who sent you off to specialists who analyze your body as if it and your life were a product on an assembly line.  This is the total wrong approach but it's not surprising because virtually all the advertising they see is about the latest supplement, the latest fad diet, the latest fad singular healthcare modality.  It also doesn't help that men see the women in their lives nearly obsessed with singular modalities, "spiritual new-age" modalities, and others but not seeing many results in them. 

They simply see the commercialization of health in many forms and shy away from it due to this reason. 

Even the research that people read online misleads them because they are often written by highly biased and uneducated authors such as those that appear in these snippets from the "research":

"There exists a limited amount of information about women practitioners of CAM, who appear to outnumber male practitioners (Cant and Sharma, 1994), and ratios vary according to healing modality (Baer, 2001, Cant and Sharma, 1994). Indications are that “talking” therapies such as naturopathy, homeopathy and Western herbal medicine are practiced more by women, whereas those therapies that entail full-time training and a science orientated curriculum, such as chiropractic and osteopathy, are practiced more by men (Andrews, 2003, Baer, 2001, Nissen, 2010). .

Many men and women tend to associate the terms "naturopath," homeopathy" as something very benign and useless as the quote above states as "talking therapies." These 2 modality terms are often used by many people who frequently are not trained in the biochemistry of the body and many don't even realize the body is made of biochemistry just like plants.  When they similar test above they then develop a totally wrong idea about many things and become apathetic, give up, and neglect their health and eventually end up in the MD office who prescribes drugs and surgeries that indeed do work to alleviate symptoms but don't address the root causes of the issues happening in the first place.  They think their lives were saved and think only their MD has the answers and the reality is indeed the MD saved their life, but doesn't explain why over the years they developed this illness they think "came out of nowhere."  It did not appear out of nowhere; it developed over time mainly because of malfunctioning of the cellular systems mainly  due to lack of adequate cellular nutritional support.  Their cells were not obtaining what they needed over time just like a plant would become sick which is rare with botanist care.

A big reason of this is how advertising in these fields has been restricted by the state-owned monopolies of the wrongly termed "health care."

Many have become distrustful of Medical doctors especially those who have  developed health problems or maintain friendships and have family who went through the entire process and rarely obtain solid resolutions for seemingly minor issues.  Why is this? It's due to the fact that virtually all practitioners operate under a bureacracy much like your daily workplace.  If we realized this we would develop more understanding and compassion for these poor souls that have to often deal with abusive people who are frustrated and sick. 

Many people are aware there are much better ways to solve health issues but aren't entirely sure about what to choose and I was in the same boat mostly my entire life.  For example there is an almost cult-like following of various "alternative health" practitioners such as chiropractors, massage therapists, nudist colonies and others that are very crude ways of trying to obtain the dream of "feeling better."  The fact is these singular modalities will help but they aren't addressing the root cause of illness directly, nor are they precise enough to do so.

The Limits of "Conventional" Medical System

In reductionism, the usual approach is to address multiple problems in a system one by one. Each problem is divided and dealt with separately. For instance, in the case of coronary artery disease, each known risk factor like hyperlipidemia or hypertension is individually addressed. This strategy is also applied to coexisting diseases like hypothyroidism, diabetes, and coronary artery disease. Each disease is treated independently, assuming that the treatment of one disorder, such as coronary artery disease, has minimal impact on the treatment of another disorder, such as hypothyroidism. Although this approach is easily implemented in clinical practice, it overlooks the intricate interplay between disease and treatment. The assumption is that the effects of treatments are cumulative rather than nonlinear.

What's The Difference Between "Conventional" & "Systems?"

The medical system is one that most of you are familiar with, which includes hospitals, physical therapists, nurses, respiratory specialists, and other practitioners that insurance covers for about 80% of the population. The medical model focuses on preventing death and communicable diseases, and believes that fixing symptoms can sometimes fix the problem. However, it may not have much faith in the body's ability to heal itself and often relies on external sources for healing. The medical system also believes in substitution, such as taking hormones from outside the body instead of the body producing them naturally. Patients are not usually required to make lifestyle changes and compliance tends to be better. On the other hand, the holistic or alternative healthcare system focuses on restoration rather than substitution. It aims to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.

In the realm of alternative and holistic health, we prioritize finding the root cause of dysfunction rather than simply naming the disease. Surgery is viewed as a last resort, as we believe that the body is intelligent and simply needs our assistance in removing any blockages. Our challenge in this field is dealing with conservative patients, such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, and nutritionists. Naturopaths and chiropractic internists are also part of this natural health realm. As practitioners, we expect our patients to take an active role in improving their own health. While there is no right or wrong answer in the medical alternative debate, it is important to understand the differences. In cases of severe injury or trauma, medical doctors are necessary.

If you are unwilling to make any modifications or changes, then you likely belong within the medical model. However, the alternative model is available for those who want to take control and actively participate in restoring their health. They believe that they are responsible for their own well-being and are willing to put in the effort to make necessary changes, such as losing weight or altering their diet. The alternative healthcare approach, which I prefer, is similar to a car. When the oil light comes on, there are two options: either cover it up with duct tape or disconnect the wire that triggers the light. However, neither of these solutions actually solves the underlying problem. In the case of a car, you would connect it to a computer in a mechanic's garage to understand the codes and diagnose the issue. Similarly, I strive to help my patients understand and interpret the signals their bodies are sending them, so they can take better care of themselves. By doing so, they can identify the root causes of their symptoms and make the necessary corrections to alleviate them. By the way, you look very nice with the stethoscope.

References:

Source)  Women also dominate the market of commercial products and services in the holistic milieu (Taylor, 2010)