> Health and Disease > Men's Health Issues

The cultural standard used to be that it was okay for men to drink, smoke, or eat to excess. Many did all of the above. Cultural pressure prevented men from taking an interest in and accepting responsibility for their own health.

Now it appears that, increasingly, men are taking responsibility for not only their own health and fitness but also the health and fitness of their families. Could it be that our culture has undergone, or is undergoing, a sea change? For supporting evidence, let’s look at my own behaviour.

That was Then

During the 1970s, I was in charge of a crew of two-fisted beer-drinking archaeologists. At noon every day we would march to the nearest watering hole, where we would belt back a beer (or three), wolf down burgers, and generally spend more money than we earned. The men on the crew did the same. (I always had co-ed crews.) Later in the day, after fumbling through an afternoon of digging, we would return to the watering hole until it closed.

After a few years of this, I realized we were wasting our youth. I talked my crew into challenging archaeologists at a nearby university to an exciting game of broomball. That was in 1975, and we still play today. More significantly, those of us who still play also regularly go to the gym. The hope is we can play better, avoid injury, and fend off the pitfalls of aging.

In my Father’s Day

I am now almost the age my father was when he died of heart failure. I work during the day, teach fitness classes in the evenings and on weekends, dig holes in archaeological sites on holidays, ski when it snows, and play broomball on Friday nights. Lounging at home in front of the television happens now and again, but somehow the channel always seems to be set to Home and Garden TV. And somehow every time I watch Home and Garden TV I end up with a hammer in my hand.

I believe I can say that I have aged differently from my father. I brought up this topic during a conversation with friends after an exciting game of broomball at the watering hole where we now gather for a few post-game bottled waters (more on that later). My teammates said their fathers were still on the couch. One said that for him broomball was a weekly dose of good medicine. We agreed that we are all getting old, but we are aging differently from our fathers.

Men Making Changes

Here are more observations: The Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute reports that more women than men are inactive; 66 percent of women are inactive compared to 60 percent of men. It’s as if men secretly responded to the “Let’s-get-guys-off-the-couch” campaign that has dominated the media over the past few decades.

Another change is afoot: In August 2005 Elaine Morgan in New Scientist reported that 445 fathers stayed at home with their children in the UK in 1986. Two decades later, that number has risen to more than 21,000 men. In fact, in June 2005, the UK’s Equal Opportunities Commission announced that 79 percent of men questioned said they would be happy to look after their young children while their wife or partner went out to work. In a single generation, a behaviour that was once considered eccentric has become mainstream.

Men at Work

Sometimes the demand for societal change of role stereotypes comes from our employers. Many companies today demand that men meet higher standards of health and fitness. This point is demonstrated in my occasional sessions teaching a fitness class at a local government job site. A perk for these government employees is free access to an on-site gym. The result is that, although women have always attended my classes there, now I see more men are working out, too.

Mike Broderick is a fitness instructor by night and weekends, and through the week he finds jobs for the physically disabled.

Source: alive #284, June 2006