Wellness Wisdom: National Men’s Health Awareness Month
June is National Men’s Health Awareness Month. One common illness that affects men is prostate cancer. Prostate cancer affects men, but it has a significant impact on everyone around them. If you’re a man and don’t know what your prostate is or what it does, you are certainly not alone.Over 30 million men suffer from prostate conditions that negatively affect their quality of life. Every year approximately 230,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 30,000 will die of it. African American men should start having prostate screenings between age 40-45 and should be screened yearly thereafter by a blood test and/or prostate exam. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the second leading cancer killer of men after lung cancer. If detected early, prostate cancer can be treated.
Wear BLUE Day is a part of the year-round Wear BLUE® awareness campaign that was created by Men’s Health Network to raise awareness about the importance of male health and to encourage men to live longer and healthier lives and give women an opportunity to encourage them to do so. Join me in wearing BLUE Friday, June 17th.
We need to increase the awareness of Men’s Health. Let’s help our fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and friends live long healthy lives by encouraging them to have routine health exams and routine screenings. Stay healthy and be well!
Written by: Nicole Baldwin, FNP-C Family Nurse Practitioner
Sources: Wear Blue (menshealthnetwork.org)