Men's Health Topics

More than 90% of the hidden health risks of young and middle-aged men are not directly related to the "kidney deficiency" and "deficiency of essence" reported on the Internet. They are almost all metabolic and sub-health problems accumulated from long-term bad living habits. There is no universal "health secret recipe" suitable for all men. Low-burden adjustments that match your own life rhythm are the most cost-effective solutions.

I have been in a public tertiary-level andrology clinic for almost 7 years. I just received a 28-year-old product manager from an Internet company last week. The first thing he said when he entered the door was to prescribe the most expensive kidney-tonifying medicine. He said that in the past six months, he had backache, hair loss, and poor sexual performance. He had already bought more than 3,000 aphrodisiac lozenges online and took them for two months. The more he took, the more likely he was to get angry and get nosebleeds. Looking through his physical examination report, all kidney function indicators were normal, except that uric acid was 60% higher than the critical value and vitamin D was only one-third of the normal value. Upon further questioning, I found out that he had been sleeping after 2 a.m. every day for almost half a year, relying on takeout for lunch, and drinking at least three glasses of iced American and iced Coke a day. On weekends, he either slept for 15 hours or stayed up all night with friends. His only exercise was to go downstairs to get takeout. In the end, I didn't prescribe any supplements to him, but asked him to lie down before 12 o'clock every day, take two bus stops less than 20 minutes after get off work, replace iced drinks with room temperature ones, and eat dark green vegetables twice a week. He came for a review last week and said that his backache was basically gone and his hair loss had been reduced by half.

Speaking of this, someone must ask, are the kidney-tonifying claims passed down from our ancestors all false? This is actually the most controversial point about men’s health at present. Both sides’ views are actually reasonable, and there is no need to distinguish between right and wrong. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, what we call "kidney deficiency" is actually a general term for dysfunction of the entire reproductive, urinary, and endocrine systems. Syndrome differentiation is also divided into kidney yin deficiency, kidney yang deficiency, and kidney qi deficiency. The treatment directions for different symptoms are completely opposite. For example, for people with kidney yin deficiency who have red tongue and dry mouth, hot flashes and night sweats, if you give people warm and tonic medicinal materials such as velvet antler and epimedium, it will aggravate the deficiency fire, and in severe cases, it can also induce inflammation of the urinary system. Not everyone can just take supplements blindly. The understanding of modern medicine is more direct. As long as there are no organic diseases in the liver and kidney function, the daily intake of protein and trace elements from the normal diet can fully meet the body's needs. Eating extra health products without clearly labeled ingredients will increase the metabolic burden on the liver and kidneys. We have seen several cases of liver damage after eating Internet celebrity "Men's Vitality Tablets". Only after they were examined did we find that excessive amounts of synthetic androgens were added to them. Short-term consumption will indeed make you feel energetic, but long-term use will inhibit your own androgen secretion, which is not worth the gain.

Many people keep in good health just like they are doing on a temporary basis. They usually do very badly, and when something goes wrong, they just think about taking some special medicine to make it up at once. How can there be such a good thing? I have seen many men drink until they vomited at social events. When they wake up the next day and make a cup of liver-protecting tea, they feel that they have achieved "health management". ； I bought a gym membership worth RMB 20,000 and went there three times a year. I stuffed protein powder into my mouth, thinking it would build muscles. However, my physical examination showed that my creatinine was too high. I was scared to death. Some people search for symptoms on the Internet when they feel unwell, and after seeing a short video that says "these signs in the body are precursors to a serious illness", they blindly adapt to their own situation. The most exaggerated patient I have ever seen was a 24-year-old patient. After watching the short video for three days, he felt that he had both prostatitis and kidney cancer.

In fact, over the years, I have found that the most useful health habits are all free of charge: Don’t hold in your urine. Many people play games or drive on the highway until they can’t help but go to the toilet. In the long run, excessive bladder pressure, prostatitis, and urinary tract infections are common problems.； Choose breathable pure cotton for your underwear. Don’t wear tight jeans every day. Your testicles are much more sensitive to temperature than you think. If you stay in an environment above 37 degrees for a long time, sperm quality will decline. In serious cases, it can induce epididymitis. ； If you really feel unwell, go to a regular hospital for a consultation. It only costs more than ten yuan. Don’t believe the old Chinese medicine doctor on the telephone pole, nor the miracle medicine sold in the live broadcast room that “works as soon as you take it”. If there is such a miracle medicine, it will be covered by medical insurance.

To be honest, men’s health is really not as mysterious as the merchants advertise, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy various nutritional supplements and stuff them into your mouth. If you can stay up less than two nights a week, smoke half a pack of cigarettes less, and walk downstairs twice for half an hour, it will be more effective than if you take tens of thousands of health products. After all, the body is the most honest. How you respond to it will give you feedback, right?