Healthy Aging For Men

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• QHow can men stay healthy as they get older?

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  A Dr. Lester Carrodeguas, MD , Family Medicine, answered on behalf of Baptist Health South Florida

  Everyone benefits from healthy eating, regular exercise and avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s specific recommendations for all adults, including men are:

  • It’s never too late to quit smoking. Quitting has immediate and long-term benefits.
  • Move more. Adults need at least two and a half hours of moderate-to-intense aerobic activity every week. Perform muscle strengthening activities that work all major muscle groups on two or more days a week.
  • Eat healthy. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables every day. Fruits and vegetables have many vitamins and minerals that may protect you from chronic diseases. Limit foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, salt, fat and alcohol.
  • Tame stress. Sometimes stress can be harmful, especially when it is severe enough to make you feel overwhelmed and out of control.
  • Get enough sleep. Adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Too little sleep is linked to a number of chronic diseases and conditions.

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• QWhat are some anti-aging tips for men?

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  A RealAge answered

  Here are nine anti-aging tips for men:
  

  • Eat foods that prevent heart disease.
  • Prevent heart disease with exercise.
  • Get enough vitamin D to prevent cancer.
  • Eat more antioxidants to dodge cancer.
  • Use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer.
  • Do regular self-exams to spot skin cancer.
  • Reduce stress for healthy work-life balance.
  • Laugh to reduce stress and lower blood pressure.
  • See your doctor for routine checkups.

  Take the RealAge Test!

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• QHow does aging affect men sexually?

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  A Dr. Harris H. McIlwain, MD , Rheumatology, answered

  An effect of aging in men is that it may take longer to achieve an erection, even though it is usually possible. The erection may be less intense.  This can be used to extend the time of foreplay. It becomes more important to try to separate out the difference between physical limits on sex such as those resulting from medical problems and changes in appearance. Then you can learn to ignore the physical problems in sex brought on by aging. This can increase the pleasure of sexual activity without limits by aging.

  Because of the drop in sensitivity of the skin of the penis, men may need longer and more direct stimulation to achieve an erection than in earlier years. Visual stimulation may be less effective and psychologic thought processes that formerly aroused and caused an erection may be slower or less effective.

• QHow does unhappiness affect aging in men?

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  A Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  Men are particularly at risk of the aging effects of being unhappy. Studies of twins in Finland indicate that predictors of satisfaction in life are major determinants of the death rates for men. These predictors include how happy they are with their lot in life, no matter what it may be; whether or not they are lonely; and whether or not they have a general interest in life. A general dissatisfaction with life predicts not only adverse health behavior (such as smoking, not watching one's diet, and not exercising) but also mortality rates, especially among men. In fact, this appears to be one of the major differences between men and women. Men who are dissatisfied don't practice healthy habits, whereas women who are dissatisfied with life don't have the same mortality risk. Apparently, women continue to practice healthy habits and do not "give up."
• QHow does a happy marriage affect aging in men?

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  A Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  When comparing the RealAges (physiologic age) for thirty-five-year-old men, a man who is married is 6.3 years younger than a bachelor and 5.8 years younger than a man who is separated or divorced. Studies in three countries found that a successful marriage had more of an effect on arterial aging than even total cholesterol or bad (low-density lipoprotein [LDL]) cholesterol levels. That is, men who were happily married were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than unmarried men, even if the LDL cholesterol readings for the married men were much higher. Clearly, being married is enormously beneficial to a man's RealAge.
• QHow does getting fired affect aging in men?

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  A Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  Getting fired or laid off ages us even more than work does, no matter how much we may have grumbled about our jobs. Losing a job can make your RealAge (physiologic age) as much as five years older. Such loss is especially significant for men in the middle or late stages of their career; job layoffs and firings seem to have an especially pernicious aging effect on these men, moreso than on women. Most likely, this gender gap has to do with traditional social roles, in which men are taught to believe that their job is the most central part of their identities. Men who have lost their jobs, and even those who have retired of their own free will, are more than twice as likely to have a major aging event than men who remain continuously employed.