The Man Wrap (Up☺️)
Well, it's been a week hasn't it! Men's Health Week has been over in the blink of an eye, but we've definitely covered some ground. Lets take a walk back through the info I've shared on the facebook and insta pages, and really make sure that we are doing our best for the men in our lives.
At the beginning of the week I had a chat about all things health... that is the things that our men die from. Now I know that sounds morbid, but its a fact of life, that we all do die... at some point... hopefully not anytime soon 🤪. The biggest killer of men is cardiovascular disease ... or heart attacks and then cancer type illnesses. This isn't super surprising, but it's important to realise that we can help ourselves be much healthier!
For example, according the AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), in 2017-18, 5 in 10 men were sufficiently physically active. Whereas fewer that 1 in 30 men ate enough fruit and vegetables. Yep you read that right ... 3.0% of men eat enough fruit and vegetables! (Women aren't much better at 7.7%)
That's a pretty crazy stat.... and no doubt would go a long way to improving long term health.
In addition to this, 12% of males were daily consumers of sugar sweetened drinks. The most alarming stat however is that 7 in 10 men are overweight or obese... that is 75% of men and 60% of women.
Based on these stats, its pretty easy to see some ways we could help ourselves be healthier.... so here's a list (coz you all know I love a good list):
1. Eat your fruit and veggies. If you pop in a piece of fruit, and at least one veggie in your lunch (carrots and cucumbers are favourites in our house), or even have a salad wrap with some yumminess in it... then for dinner you don't need 5 veggies on a plate. And imagine if you had a smoothie for brekky.... that could be some fruit and spinach leaves right there... win win!
2. Swap out the fizzy drinks. Yep... you heard me, switch out that sugary sweetened drink for some bubbly soda water or mineral water... or even better some straight up water. We know, and especially living in this climate, that we need to have plentiful water in our day, all year round. Imagine if you could smash in 0.5-1L of water before you even got to work... you are then halfway to the glorious minimum of 2L.
3. Move your body. Yep... if any of you guys are like me, working from home a bit more has resulted in a decrease in my daily movements. I'm increasing with a super conscious effort around movement, and I'd really encourage the men in your life too. If we sit for 8 hours, then we apparently need 2 hours of movement to counteract what that does to spine....
We also know that movement helps to act like a battery charger for your brain, so if you are feeling a bit sluggish, then a walk, a jump or a skip may be just what the doctor ordered.
4. Bring back some FUN! Anyone else feel that as they age, they forget how to have fun??!! Fun is super important on so many levels. It releases happy hormones, it balances out our left and right brains, and it generally makes us nicer humans!! The daily grind can definitely become that.... GRINDING! So make sure to inject some fun in your day, it may just help to make you a nicer human.
So that's the wrap up! We are really glad we had this opportunity to connect with the men through men's health week. Many people don't realise that we see men too... and we sure do! Being a family chiropractor, we love seeing the whole family. But more than that... we love it when a whole family gets on board with making great health choices together!
Get on out there into our glorious central queensland weather that we are blessed with in our supposed WINTER.... and Enjoy Life and Stay Healthy!!!
Dr Ali.
