Nearly half of men say they never get an annual check-up – a fact that puts them at risk for allowing a small health problem to grow into a major threat.
“If you come in for preventative-type maintenance, it could keep you from spending more time in the hospital for something serious,” says Megan Cundiff, a physician assistant at Tidelands Health Family Medicine at Garden City.
It’s similar to keeping up with your car’s regular maintenance schedule, which helps ensure your vehicle runs at peak performance, she adds.
As with a vehicle, the number and type of men’s check-ups change over time, but there are several key health screenings that cut across ages from the 20s through retirement. Starting early establishes a baseline for health that can help you understand how your health is changing over time.
Some of the key screenings for men include:
Visiting with your doctor every 12 months helps keep an eye on potential changes to your health and catch any discrepancies early on. Your physical should include blood work that looks at key health markers such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, thyroid health and kidney function. Blood work can find problems before they show up in your daily life, Cundiff says.
“A lot of people in their 20s and 30s are surprised to find out they have high blood pressure without having any symptoms,” Cundiff says. “Things like high cholesterol or high blood pressure you don’t always feel. But if you catch them early, it can keep you from having a heart attack or stroke.”
Your yearly physical should include a screening for depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. In an era when people spend more time behind computers or otherwise by themselves, social isolation can make potential mental health issues worse, Cundiff says.
“Sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor not just for obesity but also for mood disorders,” she adds.
Testicular cancer can happen at any age, but men between 20 and 40 are at the highest risk of developing it, with the average age being 33. A simple monthly self-exam, typically done in the shower, can alert men to potential problems early on. A lump, pain or swelling in the testicle is a sign of potential trouble. When caught and treated, the survival rate for testicular cancer is 95 percent.
With obesity and type 2 diabetes on the rise, screenings for diabetes and prediabetes become increasingly important over time. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends regular tests of your A1C level after age 35, although that age can be pushed lower for people with a family history or higher risk for developing diabetes.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers for men but also highly preventable if early signs are caught by regular screenings, which typically start at about age 45. Screenings can happen under anesthesia or through a yearly fecal immunochemical test applied to a stool sample. However, if you are experiencing changes in your bowel movements, such as blood or frequency, that’s something to discuss with your doctor.
Prostate cancer is slow growing but, as with other health issues, catching it early can mean treating it before it becomes a major problem. The PSA is a blood test that can catch indications of prostate issues as they develop. The test is an alternative to the digital rectal exam that was standard for many years. Age 50 is the recommended age for most men to begin PSA testing, but men with a family history of prostate cancer should start PSA screenings as early as 40 or 45.
The key to getting the most out of men’s health screenings is to start early when changes in lifestyle can have the biggest impact, Cundiff says. But starting later is still better than waiting until a problem becomes too big to ignore.
“The earlier something is caught, the easier it is to treat,” she says.