men's health approach

The health method that is truly suitable for the vast majority of ordinary men is never the standardized template that can be seen everywhere on the Internet, such as "10,000 steps a day, strength training three times a week, and eating wolfberry to nourish the kidneys every day." Instead, it must first match your age, work rhythm, and basic physical conditions, prioritize solving the small problems that most affect your quality of life at the moment, and then gradually build long-term healthy habits. There is no need to stick to other people's standards.

A while ago, I met a 32-year-old friend who works as an Internet operator, and I saw a blogger who said, "Men over 30 must run 5 kilometers a day to improve their metabolism." He worked overtime until 11 o'clock every day, and even set an alarm clock for 6:30 to get up for a morning run. He didn't last two weeks and ended up in the emergency department due to knee effusion and irregular heartbeat. He originally wanted to keep in good health, but instead ended up in the hospital, which makes people laugh and cry.

In fact, there are a lot of controversies about men's health now, and different opinions in different fields are different. There is no need to take sides. Take the "supplements" that everyone is most concerned about. The view of evidence-based Western medicine has always been very clear: as long as the daily diet can be enough to eat red meat twice a week, deep-sea fish once a week, and a pound of vegetables a day, except for those who stay in the office all year round and don't get sunshine, they need to supplement with vitamin D. There is no need to use other supplements such as protein powder, arginine, maca, etc. If you must take it, you must first check the liver and kidney function, otherwise the supplements will not be metabolized and will put a burden on the organs. The traditional Chinese medicine point of view is to first identify your constitution and then adjust it. Many people buy Liuwei Dihuang pills and chew wolfberry every day when they feel tired. If you have a constitution with heavy moisture, thick tongue coating, and prone to bitter taste, such a supplement will only make you more angry. It is better to boil some red bean and tuckahoe water to drain away the moisture, and then talk about supplements. Both statements are reasonable. The key point is that it must be suitable for your own situation, and don’t follow the trend blindly.

To be honest, if you sit in the office for more than 10 hours every day, don’t worry about building eight-pack abs or practicing mermaid lines. Solving the problem of prolonged sitting first is better than anything else. I used to have shoulder and neck pain that was so painful that it was difficult to lift my arms. I applied for a massage card worth more than 3,000 yuan, but it only lasted two or three days. Later, I raised the monitor by 10 centimeters. When I answered the phone, I stood up to answer the phone. I got up every 40 minutes to get a drink of water and turn my shoulders twice. Now, I haven’t had any pain in almost a year. Really, this kind of little habit that doesn’t cost money is much more useful than going to the gym to practice squats for two hours on weekends.

There are also many private issues that men are embarrassed to talk about, such as frequent urination, easy fatigue, and poor sexual intercourse. The first reaction is "Am I suffering from kidney deficiency?" Then they turn around and buy aphrodisiacs from WeChat. In the past two years, I have seen people who took those three-no aphrodisiacs and their blood pressure soared and were admitted to the ICU. Is this a mistake? In fact, in most cases like this, you should first check whether you stay up until 2 o'clock for a week, have cold beer with barbecue every day, and sit for more than 8 hours without moving. Change these bad habits first. You will basically see improvement in half a month. If there is no improvement, go to the men's department or traditional Chinese medicine department of a regular tertiary hospital for a check-up. Don't take medicine blindly.

There are also different opinions on quitting smoking and drinking. Some people say that if you smoke all your life, you can live to 90, while others say that it is best not to drink at all. To be honest, those who smoke and live to 90 years old are survivor bias. Don’t bet that you are the exception. It’s definitely best if you can quit. If you really can’t quit, eat more lung-moistening foods like pears and white fungus, and do regular lung CT every year. Problems can be detected early if they happen. The same goes for drinking. Don't just drink it all the time because you believe that "drinking a small amount of red wine softens blood vessels". If you drink more than two ounces of white wine every time, any wine will damage your liver. It's okay to drink a little occasionally when friends get together, but don't drink it every day.

My biggest feeling in the past two years is that men's health is really not a KPI that needs to be completed. You don't have to force yourself to walk a lot of steps every day or eat a lot of healthy meals. If you smoke one less cigarette today, stay up for half an hour less, and stand for two more minutes after sitting for a long time, the long-term effect will be much better than spending thousands of dollars on supplements or getting a fitness card. If you really feel uncomfortable, go to the hospital. Don't believe the folk remedies on the Internet. It's as simple as that.