Secrets to Men’s Health and Longevity

Go against nature - Go against the inherent inertia that has been instilled in you since childhood that "men should bear it hard, suppress their emotions, and ignore minor physical problems." Don't overdraw the body's fault tolerance in advance.

Uncle Zhang, who I met at a community free clinic two years ago, is the most practical example. He is 68 years old. When he was young, he ran long-distance freight transport. With his strong body, he suffered from stomachache and dizziness. When he was diagnosed with high blood pressure, he also felt that "I took any medicine for this small problem, and I became dependent on it." As a result, he stayed up late the winter before last and ran a long distance. He had a stroke and fell on the steering wheel as soon as he entered the city. He was able to save half of his life. The left half of his body was numb for half a year before he slowly recovered. Now he walks around the community for 20 minutes every morning to buy breakfast, sleeps for 20 minutes at noon, and dances in the square for half an hour with his wife at night. He has completely stopped smoking and only drinks a small glass of homemade wolfberry wine every day. Even his habit of playing chess and competing with others to the point of blushing has changed. Last month's physical examination showed that all indicators are more stable than many 50-year-old middle-aged people.

There have always been a lot of controversies about men's health. You must have heard similar words: "My old man smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol all his life, and he still lived more than 90 years." You think this statement makes no sense. There are indeed such cases. Public health experts will not directly deny it, but will tell you bluntly: This is a typical survivor bias. What you don’t see is that among 100 people who smoke and drink for a long time, 90 will suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver cirrhosis, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases early on. The remaining 10 are genetic lottery. If you really dare to bet that you are the 10% of the chosen ones, the price will most likely be regretting it for the rest of your life while lying in a hospital bed with a tube inserted. "The Lancet" published relevant research in the past few years. The risk of premature death among Chinese men due to smoking, excessive drinking, and a high-fat and high-salt diet is 2.3 times that of women. The data is presented here, and it is really not worth it.

Oh, by the way, there is another point that many people tend to overlook: emotional internal friction is actually more lethal to men than staying up late or drinking alcohol. My friend's father was a middle-level leader of a state-owned enterprise before he retired. He has been used to being strong all his life and keeps everything to himself. Last year, his son lost more than 2 million in starting a business. He secretly took out the pension money he had saved all his life to repair the hole without telling his wife. There was no one to complain about. After holding it in for more than half a year, he suddenly suffered a heart attack while eating at home. Fortunately, he was rescued by the doctor in time. The doctor from the cardiology department said that nearly 70% of his blood vessels were blocked, which was caused by long-term anxiety and unrelieved emotions. The traditional concept always says that "men don't shed tears easily", but current psychological research has long confirmed that men's emotional release threshold is inherently higher than that of women. Holding back negative emotions for a long time will not only disrupt endocrine, but also continue to stimulate vasoconstriction. The probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems is more than three times higher than that of nagging people.

As for how to adjust, there is really no need to adopt the ascetic standard of "running five kilometers a day and eating boiled vegetables every meal". The suggestions in different fields are different. You can choose the one that suits you: People in the fitness circle will advise you to exercise more to build muscle and improve your basal metabolism, so that you will not fall easily when you are old.； Geriatricians will say that people over the age of 40 should not engage in high-intensity exercise. Walking for half an hour a day and occasionally doing Tai Chi is enough. Excessive exercise will hurt the knees and increase the burden on the heart. ； Traditional Chinese medicine will tell you to stay up less late, avoid being too cold, and avoid drinking cold beer that hurts the spleen and stomach. These are all correct. You don’t have to choose the “most correct” one. If you usually sit in the office and are too lazy to move, start by taking one less stop to walk home after get off work every day. Occasionally, if you are craving for barbecue hot pot, just eat it. As long as you don’t make it every day, there won’t be any big problem.

Don’t believe those health care products sold in Moments that “tonify the kidneys, strengthen virility, and prolong life.” I met a 42-year-old brother in the emergency department before. He took the so-called “longevity pill” recommended by a friend for half a year, and suffered drug-induced liver damage.

Some people also say, "You're not allowed to do this or eat that. What's the point of living for so long?" This is really a misunderstanding. Longevity does not mean that you should give up all the fun, but that you should not take building a body as a daily routine: you can have a barbecue once a month to satisfy your cravings, but eating it every now and then will definitely affect your intestines, stomach and liver. ； It's okay for you to drink with friends until midnight occasionally, but if you drink to the point of breaking up every week, that's a joke on your life. The last time Uncle Zhang was chatting with me, he was holding an old unlit pipe in his mouth (he had been playing with it since he quit smoking) and said that the happiest thing now is picking up his grandson from school every day, buying him a marshmallow on the way, and watching the little guy jumping around. If he had really left a few years ago, how could he be so lucky?

You see, there are no mysterious secrets. To put it bluntly, don’t compete with yourself. If you feel pain, go see a doctor. If you feel unhappy, talk to a friend to complain. Eat well and sleep well. That’s better than anything else.