5 top health tips for men

Sunday is Father’s Day. It’s not only a time to celebrate the father or father figure in your life, but it’s also a perfect time to urge men to extend their life.

It’s not always on top of the priority list. Fathers and father figures may need a push to focus on their health.

“Men in society are expected to be the leaders of their family units to be strong, not to complain, endure pain, work through it,” Doctor Edward Karpman with El Camino Health in California said.

Karpman says stress can take a toll, but there are five tips men can use to optimize their health.

First, get regular checkups and get screened at each stage of life.

“So in their 20s and 30s, be screening for testicular cancers. When they get into their 40s and 50s are looking at heart disease and 60s and 70s (are) looking at cancer risks and screenings,” Karpman said.

Next, find ways to manage stress. Karpman says regular exercise is a perfect stress reliever, and it can also help with the third goal: maintaining a healthy body weight that can help lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint pain, sleep apnea, and more.

Fourth, prioritize getting good quality sleep, a key component for both mental and physical health. And finally, Karpman says to make sure your testosterone levels are balanced.

“To the equivalent hormone to estrogen in women, it plays a lot of similar vital roles in terms of bone health, energy, mood, muscle health,” Karpman said. “There’s studies now coming out showing that a healthy testosterone level is related with a longer life span.”