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Re: Mens Health

Digital Rectal Exam

A digital rectal exam is the physical examination of the rectum, the last few inches of the bowel, just above the anus. The doctor inserts a gloved and lubricated finger to check for abnormalities of the anus and rectum. The exam takes about one to two minutes. It may cause mild discomfort, but it should not be painful.

By feeling through the rectal wall, the doctor can also examine the surface of the prostate gland.


Doctors use the digital rectal exam to evaluate certain symptoms in men. Usually these symptoms affect the digestive system, genitals and urinary tract. For example, a doctor may check the prostate in a man who complains of frequent urination.

The exam also is used to look for certain cancers. The exam can detect cancers or polyps that develop in the last few inches of the colon. However, your doctor probably will recommend an additional screening test for colon cancer, such as colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or fecal occult blood testing.

In men, the rectal exam is often used to screen for prostate cancer in combination with a blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA test). There is some controversy about screening for this type of cancer, so discuss this testing with your doctor.

How It's Done

You will need to remove or pull down your clothing from the waist down and lay on your side on an exam table with your knees pulled up toward your chest.

Your doctor will insert a gloved and lubricated finger into your rectum. It often helps to exert pressure as though you are moving your bowels. Your doctor will feel the wall of your rectum, checking for unusual lumps, swellings or tenderness. The doctor will feel the prostate gland through the wall of the rectum and check for suspicious nodules, as well as for abnormalities in the gland's size or shape.

Follow-Up

Your doctor should be able to tell you the results of your exam before you leave. If your exam is not normal, your doctor can arrange follow-up testing.


I have had one of these examinations. I lay on the examining table on my side with both knees bent. It took about 1 or 2 minutes and was only slightly uncomfortable.
Don't feel embarassed as the doctor has probably done hundreds of them and it could save your life.
 
Re: Mens Health

Dont worry, its just like taking the advice of your broker; only youre aware whats going to happen with a prostate exam. :D
 
Re: Mens Health

lol, nice one milkman, must be those 4.30am early rises to do the milking that gets your creative juices going.

Could throw in the tax dept or gov. with the brokers.

cheers
 
Re: Mens Health

How To Maintain A Healthy Weight
Follow these steps.

For a prediction about your future, don't bother with crystal balls and psychic friends. Your doctor can ask two simple questions that will reveal, with a fair degree of accuracy, what's in store for your health as you age: Do you smoke? Are you overweight?

Next to smoking, your weight is the greatest measure of what sort of long-term health risks you may face, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, gout, and gallbladder disease. Lowering your weight, quite simply, means lowering your risks.

Of course, before you can work to maintain a healthy weight, you need to know how to define a healthy weight. Use the Body Mass Index calculator. It gives you a rough idea of where you stand, placing you in one of three categories: healthy weight, overweight or obese. Check your BMI (http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/14220/24119/196510.html?d=dmtContent)

Know Your BMI?

If your body mass index is less than 25, you should work to keep it there. If your BMI is greater than 25, you can improve your long-term health by lowering your number. Studies have shown that having a BMI above 25 increases the risk of dying from heart disease and cancer.

The following steps, from the nutrition and weight-management book "Eat, Drink And Be Healthy" by Walter C. Willett, M.D., chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, can help you maintain a healthy BMI or lower one that's high.

Get Active

If you are active now, congratulations. You can reap even greater benefits by increasing the frequency and intensity of your activity. If you aren't active, getting started can help reduce your weight and, therefore, improve your health. Here's what Dr. Willett recommends.

Walk

A walk might not seem like "exercise" to people who sweat at the gym, but research has shown considerable health benefits from walking. For women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study ”” one of the largest and longest health studies ever ”” those who walked briskly about three hours a week were 35 percent less likely to have had a heart attack over an eight-year period than the women who only walked occasionally.

Make your day more active

You've heard these suggestions before, but they're worth repeating. Use stairs instead of elevators, park a distance away from your destination and walk, get off the bus or train a few stops early and walk the rest of the way, rake and shovel manually instead of using power equipment to blow leaves and snow away.

Make exercise enjoyable

Obviously, the more fun you have participating in an activity, the greater the chance that you'll do it often and stick with it longer. If you hate the thought of being indoors and running on a treadmill, don't set that as your goal. If you love swimming, join a pool. Like tennis? Sign up with a partner. (Having someone to keep you on track always helps.)

Exercise 30 minutes each day

This is the tough one for many people. Scheduling time for exercise is often the first item to drop off the "to do" list. Try to think of daily exercise as an investment, just as valuable to your future as your IRA ”” you're banking good health now for use later in life. Here's some good news: The 30 minutes doesn't have to be consecutive. If your schedule doesn't allow one uninterrupted 30-minute block of time, get your daily fill of exercise in two 15-minute blocks.

Watch What You Eat

The two factors that influence what you weigh are amount of physical activity and how much you eat. Dr. Willett suggests focusing on the following dietary practices to monitor and control the calories you consume.

Keep track of your calories

To maintain your current weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume. Writing down what you eat is the first step toward making a change. Right now, you may have no idea how many calories you take in each day. (The average number used by health professionals and the food industry is 2,000 calories per day.) Keep a notepad with you and jot down what you eat throughout the day, and the approximate portion sizes of each item. At the end of the day, you can search for the values of each food and tally your totals. (Our nutrition database contains thousands of food entries, each with total calorie content and the ability to adjust portion size. You also can get an idea of how many of those calories you're burning when you exercise.)

Practice defensive eating

In our "super-size it" society, overeating is easy, automatic and nearly inevitable. To protect against the onslaught of messages tempting us to eat more food and larger portions, Dr. Willett suggests these steps:

Stop before you're stuffed.
"Clean your plate" was not good advice. (Sorry, mom.) Walk away from your plate feeling satisfied but light.
Don't eat things just because they're available.
If you stock your pantry with high-calorie snacks, chances are that you'll eat them. Make life easier for yourself and don't bring tempting items into your home. Instead, stock fruit (apples, grapes) and whole-grain crackers.
Choose small portions.
You can control portion size at home. Dining out, however, requires some planning. Know that the portions you get in restaurants and fast-food joints are often double (at least) a normal portion size.
Eat slowly.
Your digestive system sends signals when it's had enough. If you eat too quickly, this process can't keep up, and you end up eating more than you need.
 
Re: Mens Health

After some search it appears that:

Tomatoes are recommended for prostate health
Also Brazilian nuts (2 a day provide enough Selen for one day) give some benefit to prostrate, but I didn’t find out why.

Does it look right?
 
Re: Mens Health

Happy

I am no expert in diet etc (I have no qualifications in health/medicine at all).

Having read many diets/articles about what is good/bad for you, I have come to the conclusion that the best idea is to have a varied diet and consume everything in moderation. Eat and drink everything that makes you enjoy life (after sex, consuming nice food/drink is one of the best pleasures in life)without being excessive in any one item.

Unless you have a specific problem then don't worry about eating so many tomatoes or nuts etc to combat one or more possible ailments.

If you feel comfortable about it and think you would benefit by it take suppliments.

Its more important that you enjoy life!

Don't take drugs, don't smoke, drink alcohol in moderation (red wine/low voltage beer), excercise as much as you can and be mellow.
 
Re: Mens Health

dutchie said:
Sign up with a partner. (Having someone to keep you on track always helps.)
Click to expand...
This is going a bit off topic but I decided to detail my recent experiences with losing weight and getting fit. Feel free to read on or ignore...

I certainly agree that having someone to keep you on track helps.

Now, I would ideally like to lose about one sixth of my body mass (weight) which would give me a Body Mass Index right in the middle of where my doctor says it's supposed to be. It's about 10% over the upper limit at the moment which according to the doctor is "not ideal but no reason for panic". It seems to run in the family unfortunately and losing weight is anything but easy IMO.

My partner also has similar issues and wants to lose about 20% of her body weight which would put her in the middle of the ideal range. She's never lost weight before, historically been quite slim, and found the whole concept rather difficult.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, what we do now is that once every week we weigh and measure each other and record the results in a diary. The reason for her recording my measurements and vice versa is simply to keep us both honest.

Then, one at a time, we have to confess everything we have done wrong in terms of eating junk food etc. over the past week. The rule is strictly to not criticise each other but just listen and understand although we are allowed to ask each other "why" we ate whatever rubbish it was. (No doubt she's already been thinking about what to say this week when I ask about that chocolate fudge pudding thing she asked me to buy when I went shopping yesterday... :D ).

There is no expectation of perfection here, both have had plenty of things to confess at the end of the week and we're both very comfortable doing the "wrong" thing with the other watching, but the point is to keep each other on track enough that we achieve the outcome we want.

Is it working? Well, in both cases there has been a small drop in weight. Mine seems to be dropping at about 1kg a month and hers at about two thrids of that rate (see comment above re chocolate pudding for explanation of the difference!). So not much weight loss but I certainly feel a lot fitter and she says that she does too and in both cases the waist measurement has gone down enough to turn tight jeans into loose fitting ones.

So we'll keep doing it even though the plan to be slim in time for Christmas is going to mean Christmas next year and not this year as originally hoped. Slowly getting there and doing lots of exercise so that must be helping too.

So, rule number one is don't be too strict with the diet etc. otherwise you'll find life gets really boring. A bit of junk food every now and then is unlikely to do too much harm, just don't eat too much of it. (That's my opinion not a qualified medial one by the way.). Of course you do need to keep the total numer of kilojoules down if you're going to lose weight so there can't be too many stuff ups with the diet bit. Just don't get to the point of sitting around angry with yourself because you ate a bag of crisps.

It's a bit like trading. Aim to be successful overall but don't try to eliminate all failures. Of course you're not always going to be perfect with the diet just like you're going to have losing investments from time to time.

And get someone to keep you on track, preferably someone who is also trying to get fit etc, since that seems to help IMO.
 
Re: Mens Health

Off track a bit, perfect, my post might look normal here.

Over the years I came past few gems in weight control:

There are no obese people in concentration camps
(Some qualification required here: after a while, and how we can use it? Eat fewer calories)

Feed only part of your body you want to keep
(Explanation needed here I suppose too: body needs about 50kcal per kilo weight, if I remember it right. If you want to keep 75 k consume up to 3750kcal and the rest will fade away)

Do not loose more than 0.5 k per week
(Reason: if you loose weight faster your natural body-mass watchdog will trigger survival response manifesting in increased hunger, which in effect is a psychological mine-field)

Whenever hungry drink glass of water first
(Hunger might not go away every time, but quite often lack of fluid in our body causes drop in osmotic pressure and gives signal we wrongly interpret)

Diet will never work long term; we have to change lifestyle
 
Re: Mens Health

Re digital rectal examination...a conservative friend of mine recently had the prostate examination and afterwards volunteered the following response to the performing GP...."I now know what it feels like the morning after the Gay Mardi Gras"
His response was out of character!
 
Re: Mens Health

Smurf

Good on you and your partner - I think you are on the right track.

Quick weight loss usually does not work long term but if your watching each other (excellent) and are aware of what you are eating then you have a good chance of success.
Don't worry if it takes longer than you hoped. As long as you keep heading in the right direction you will get there in the end and will more likely sustain the goal weight.

Happy

Some good tips there.

I agree that diets (especially fad diets) don't usually work long term. Exercise and sensible eating (quantity and quality) work better long term.

Robert

That reaction seems unusual. The few men I have spoken to about this have said that it was only slightly uncomfortable. I suppose it depends on the doctor doing the examination.
 
Re: Mens Health

BLOOD PRESSURE

Blood pressure has two components:

Systolic pressure, the higher number, represents the pressure the heart generates to pump blood to the rest of the body.
Diastolic pressure, the lower number, refers to the pressure in the blood vessels between heartbeats.
Usually, systolic pressure increases as we age. However, after age 60, diastolic pressure usually begins to decline because the body's blood vessels stiffen.

Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Normal blood pressure is defined as a systolic pressure of less than 120 and a diastolic pressure of less than 80. People with a systolic blood pressure between 120 and 139 or a diastolic blood pressure between 80 and 89 are said to have prehypertension. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is divided into two stages:

Stage 1 hypertension ”” Systolic blood pressure between 140 and 159 and/or diastolic blood pressure between 90 and 99
Stage 2 hypertension ”” Systolic blood pressure greater than 160 and/or distolic blood pressure greater than 100.
High blood pressure can cause damage to many organs, including the brain, eyes, heart and kidneys, as well as to arteries throughout the body. If you have high blood pressure that has not been diagnosed, or that is not being treated adequately, you are at greater risk of having a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.

Symptoms

High blood pressure can cause symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, fatigue and ringing in the ears. However, it often causes no symptoms.

Diagnosis

Because the diagnosis of high blood pressure depends on blood pressure readings, it's essential that blood pressure be measured carefully. Avoid strenuous exercise, smoking, eating, and drinking caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, colas) for at least one hour before you have your blood pressure taken. You should be seated for at least five minutes before the reading is taken, and you should not talk while your blood pressure is being measured. Two readings should be recorded and averaged. If your blood pressure is high, your doctor should examine your eyes, heart and nervous system (to look for brain damage). If your exmamination does not show evidence of long-standing hypertension, your doctor will have you return to the office at least two mnore times to have your blood pressure checked before diagnosing you with hypertension. This is because some people have high blood pressure only occasionally.

Once you are diagnosed with hypertension, other tests will be done to see if the high blood pressure has caused organ damage. These test can include blood tests to check kidney function, and an electrocardiogram (EKG) to look for thickening of the heart muscle, reduced blood flow to your heart or irregular heart rhythms.

Your doctor will diagnose you with prehypertension if your blood pressure measures more than 120/80 mmHg on three consecutive visits over several months.

Prevention

To prevent high blood pressure:

Get regular aerobic exercise.
Limit your intake of salt and alcoholic beverages.
Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats.
Avoid smoking.
Maintain a desirable body weight.
It is important to try to modify all the risk factors for coronary artery disease that are under your control. In addition to the above actions, you should:

Quit smoking.
Reduce your high LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol).
There is the real possibility that you can cure your high blood pressure just with lifestyle changes, and won't require blood pressure medicines.

Treatment

Doctors and people with high blood pressure usually prefer to control it with lifestyle changes, but sometimes medication is needed to provide adequate control. Antihypertensive medications include diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers and alpha-blockers. Doctors tend to be more aggressive in using medications in people with diabetes, kidney disease or heart problems, because these people are at extra risk of developing problems from high blood pressure.

When To Call A Professional

Adults should have their blood pressure measured at least every few years. If your blood pressure is higher than 120/80 mmHg, schedule regular appointments with your doctor to have your blood pressure monitored and to get advice about modifying your lifestyle to prevent problems in the future.

Prognosis

The prognosis of high blood pressure depends on how long you've had it, how severe it is, and if you have other conditions, such as diabetes, that increase the risk of disease of the heart, brain, eyes and kidneys. When high blood pressure is treated adequately, the prognosis is much better. Remember, high blood pressure can lead to a poor prognosis even if you do not have symptoms, and that both lifestyle changes and medicines can control your blood pressure and greatly improve your prognosis.
 
Re: Mens Health

Firstly, good work Dutchie! :bier:

Another contributor to high blood pressure is stress and anxiety. This makes quiting smoking a point of contention, for me anyway. Cutting back: yes. Quiting: maybe. And dont use Zyban to quit if you think you are pre-disposed to anxiety. I had panic attacks so severe that I was admitted to hospital.
Anyway, here is some stuff that may help understanding and reducing stress. I pinched it off Waynes blog :D .

Stress Management
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

He continued: “And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. ”

“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.”

“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.”

So, my friend, why not take a while to just simply RELAX. Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don’t pick it up again until after you’ve rested a while.

Life is short. Enjoy it!
Click to expand...

Hope this prevents a few strokes.
 
Healthy.....really?

dutchie said:
How To Maintain A Healthy Weight
Follow these steps.

For a prediction about your future, don't bother with crystal balls and psychic friends. Your doctor can ask two simple questions that will reveal, with a fair degree of accuracy, what's in store for your health as you age: Do you smoke? Are you overweight?
Click to expand...

Really?

First issue here is the concept of asking a doctor. Who (or what) is a doctor? Someone who has studied sickness and disease for 6+ years. Fair enough? Why don't you ask your doctor what they know about health, nutrition, vitality, energy and feeling great!

They'll probably get out the standard-issue-indisputable "Food Pyramid", and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They might even put you on the scales and get out the calculator and punch in a few nubmers. This magical number which comes out of the calculator determines exactly how healthy you are, no questions asked. (In the mean time the doctor is feeling a little thirsty and tired, and would love a can of Diet Coke (or Coke Zero before too long), and in the back of their mind, they're wondering what "low fat" meal they can cook up tonight, 'cause that belt seems to be getting a little smaller)

I have nothing against GP's. Some of them are very nice. Just don't ask 'em about your health. I have know people who have nearly been killed by GP's! This is not a joke. And this is simply because they are expected to know everything about everyone and every disease also.

More and more people are getting cancer, heart disease, stroke, mascular degeneration, depression, arthritis, dementia, irritable bowel sydrome, the list goes on and on and on.

What are we doing to ourselves?

You wanna be healthy? Go tell your GP and everyone else who makes money from your sickness to P.O. (yes, GP's make money when you see them!) And then go find out what makes a human body go, and what makes it stop. (and for goodness sake, only ask people who are healthy themselves, not some fat slob who's trying to sell you WonderPill X in their MLM!)
 
Re: Mens Health

Hangover cures


It’s Christmas and we all know what that means! Alcohol, and lots of it.

Yes presents, turkey and plenty of family parties are also involved, but for many, glasses of the hard stuff will be flowing as well.


So how do you go about avoiding a mouth that tastes like a sewer and a head that pounds like a jack-hammer?

Here is a list of known remedies, some work well, some work well for a while and some are just old wives tales. Which is which, is all a matter of opinion.

Eat before your drink

A good meal before you knock back the drink is a good idea. Of course, being Christmas, that’s bound to happen! The food (probably mainly turkey!) in your stomach will soak up the alcohol and prevent it from getting straight into your blood stream.



Water, Water, Water

It’s commonly known that alcohol dehydrates the body. You’ll need to recreate the binge session over your sink, downing as many glasses of the clear stuff as you did the night before.



Drink expensive booze

For one, cheap drink contains more chemicals than the more expensive stuff. This has a greater effect on the body, causing you to become drunker more quickly. This maybe good at the time, but it'll come back to haunt you in a few hours. For another, you can buy less for your money, meaning you can drink fewer glasses!



Extra sleep

Lets face it, being asleep with a banging hangover is far better than being awake. Need any more of a reason.

Drink slowly

Taking your time to knock it back means your body can handle the effect easier. Throwing it down your neck just overloads your system, giving it to much to do all at once.



A Sugar hit

Eating something sweet helps break down the alcohol in your body. A chocolate bar not only tastes great, but helps make your hangover disappear!

Hair of The Dog

Pouring another glass of your poison will help cure you initial ills, but they’ll return just as soon as the effects wear off. It's probably not the best way to sober up either!



Large, black coffee

A caffeine hit has the same affect as drinking more alcohol. This dehydrates the body, so whilst you may feel good for a while, your headache will only return with vengeance an hour or so later.


Fruit juice

Not only does it taste better than tap water, but fruit juice contains vital vitamins your body needs to combat the internal effects of alcohol.


Good luck everyone and the number one cure is........ abstinence
 
Re: Mens Health

A good love life will help keep you healthy.

TORONTO (Reuters) - When it comes to romance, women prefer someone who tickles their funny bone while men opt for those who catch their eye, according to an international survey released on Wednesday.

The survey, conducted in 16 countries by Canadian romance publisher Harlequin Enterprises, asked men and women on six continents about traits they liked or disliked and how they went about trying to meet Mr. or Ms. Right.

The poll revealed differences between countries in the way people tried to impress the opposite sex.

Australians and British men frequently admitted drinking too much, while about half of German and Italian men said they had lied about their finances. Spaniards were the most likely to use sex to catch someone's attention.

Eighty percent of Brazilian and Mexican men said they had lied about their marital or relationship status, as did 70 percent of German women, the survey said.

When it came to meeting that special someone, a majority of respondents preferred to rely on friends for introductions. The Internet was not a popular hunting ground except in Portugal, where about half the surveyed men and women opted to find people online.

Both Spain and France suffered a gender gap. Thirty percent of Spanish men, but no Spanish women, looked for love online. In France, 40 percent of men but only 10 percent of women attended parties, bars and clubs to meet someone, but they did have one thing in common: both sexes rated looks as more important than their counterparts in other countries.

When it came to that first meeting, a majority of men polled said beauty was more important than brains, while women put a sense of humor at the top of their list.

Physical attraction was the top priority for men in France, Brazil, Greece, Japan and Britain. And while 40 percent of Portuguese men rated intelligence over looks in a first encounter, no Australian men did so.

In the United States and Canada, humor was considered the most important trait by both men and women, getting 63 and 73 percent of the vote respectively.
 
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