Just for men

 

1)Don’t smoke. Choosing not to smoke is, without a doubt, the single most important health decision you can make.

2) Control your weight. The connection between obesity and actual illnesses or deaths is often more indirect than is the case with smoking. Experts say obesity is responsible for approximately 350,000 deaths in America alone every year, and it may even replace smoking as the No. 1 cause of death for men.

3) Drink alcohol in moderation. Truly moderate drinking (one to two standard size drinks per day) does reduce the risk of coronary artery disease — the number one cause of death in America. However, excessive drinking is a major cause of both physical disease and social tragedy. Approximately 10 percent of people who start drinking socially will become alcoholics. The decision to drink even socially should not be taken lightly.

4) Exercise regularly. This health practice has enormous physical and emotional benefits. Besides reducing the risk for high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis, regular exercise can be helpful in raising our general mood and reducing the risk for depression.

5) Have regular cholesterol and blood pressure tests. Both high cholesterol and high blood pressure can be described as “silent killers,” since they can cause extensive damage to our heart and arteries without producing any telltale symptoms until it is often too late. Therefore, the only way to find out if you have a potential problem is to get tested.

6) Have regular colonoscopy and prostate serum antigen testing; they can detect two common and potentially lethal diseases — colon and prostate cancer — when they are still curable. There are not many cancers that we can either prevent or detect early enough to make a difference, but these are two.

Source: abcnews.go.com