It’s hard to face our mortality. We love to think that we will live forever – a belief that most young people love to think about themselves. But, unfortunately, we are not immortal. And nothing forces you to face your own mortality than the slow creeping of old age. As we grow older more things happen to us physically and a combination of factors make us more susceptible to more health problems.
Below are the five most common things that are most likely to kill men (and some of the things you can do to prevent it from happening).
Stroke
One of the most common killers of men is a stroke. Every year, about 50,000 Americans die from a stroke. The most common misconception about strokes is that it happens to old people. But the statistics reveal a very different fact – one in fourteen victims is younger than 45. In fact, strokes are more commonplace than previously thought, according to a neurologist, if you perform an MRI on one hundred forty year olds, most of them have already experienced silent strokes. This is quite alarming because a silent stroke is precursor to a more debilitating stroke.
To help prevent a stroke make sure that you maintain a normal blood pressure. Each 20 point increase in systolic B or 10 point increase in diastolic BP actually increases your risk of suffering a stroke.
Cancer
In 2010, cancer killed about 300,000 men in America. Cancer is one of the top killers in both men and women. The number one cancer type that occurs among men is lung cancer, which is responsible for about 29 percent of the cancer deaths that happened last year. This is followed by prostate cancer and then colon or rectum cancer. While the cause of lung cancer can be squarely blamed on smoking, the triggers for prostate cancer is more vague even though it is one of the most common cancer types among men.
To help prevent prostate cancer, eat more cooked tomato products, which are rich in lycopene. It has also been observed that eating about ten grams of garlic or scallions daily can lower your chances of getting prostate cancer by fifty percent.
Heart disease
Heart disease has been identified as the most common of diseases among men. One in three men suffer from some form of heart disease. In 2007, about 390,000 men died from heart disease. The most alarming thing about heart disease is that victims are not always overweight or have poor lifestyles. Even those who are healthy, exercise regularly or have a healthy lifestyle can still die from this type of disease. To increase your chances of not getting this disease make certain lifestyle changes like exercising daily, losing weight, hydrating properly and reducing the factors that cause stress.
Pulmonary disease
Pulmonary diseases like emphysema, pneumonia or bronchities has killed 60,000 men in 2006. The main culprit here is smoking, which accounts for 80 percent of the total number of deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. To lessen your chances of getting sick quit smoking (if you’re a smoker), exercise regularly and limit the stressors in your daily life.
Accidents
While not a disease, various accidents are one of the most common killers of men. A study made by the Center for Disease Control revealed that 80,000 men died from various types of accidents every year. These accidents range from injuries, to fires and falls. The most common type accident though are road accidents, it accounts for 30,000 of the registered deatsh every year.
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