Men’s Health Week 13-19th June 2011
by Rebecca Coxon
Men’s Health Week starts today and runs until Father’s Day on Sunday 19th June. The theme for Ireland this year is: ‘Promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing in men and boys during challenging times'. The key message for the week is ‘let's talk about it’.
The event comes as the College of Psychiatry of Ireland is urging that men watch out for symptoms of depression and get help and treatment if necessary.
‘Men need to pay attention to signs of depression. It is recognised that in the current recession, men are more likely than women to lose their jobs and it has long been recognised that, for men, work and relationships are the key factors in maintaining good mental health,’ the college explained.
According to the college, many people ‘do not recognise that what they are going through is a condition, which responds very well to support, exercise, reducing stress and for a proportion of people to medication'.
‘This is not a sign of weakness. It can affect anyone and many well known and successful men have experienced episodes of depression,’ the college said.
Researchers at the college noted that while many women when they are depressed are obviously sad, men are often more irritable, have angry outbursts and are likely to take greater risks. Statistics show that Men are also more likely to abuse alcohol when depressed and are more likely to commit suicide.
The impact of recession upon mental health
The Men’s Action Network (M.A.N) maintain that there is a problem with how health programmes are being delivered, with the recession increasing the mental health challenges faced by men: ‘While the current economic recession is having a huge impact upon the health and well-being of local males many other challenges face men and boys.’
‘One of the biggest risks to men’s health is their reluctance to seek help at times of difficulty or to take part in health improvement programmes. This is often because services and programmes are not delivered in ways that take account of men’s particular needs.’
New technology to raise awareness
According to the Men’s Health Forum, who are focusing their Men’s Health Week campaign on how new technologies can be used to improve men's health, ‘Many men are reluctant users of traditional health services, such as GPs and pharmacies, and do not always respond to mainstream health awareness campaigns.’
However they assert that ‘most men care about their health and do respond to messages when the information is presented in formats that appeal to them. We know that men are enthusiastic users of wide range of new technologies – online systems, mobile phone applications, social networking, gaming, etc.’
‘We want to harness this interest in new technologies to develop health services, information and products that engage men so they take action to improve their health’ state the charity on their website.
According to the National Statistics Data, 37% of men used the internet for health information in 2009, up from 31% in 2008 and Men's Health Forum's consumer website (www.malehealth.co.uk) attracts over 1.5 million unique visitors a year. This therefore proves a promising technological base on which to build concerning promoting men’s health awareness.
During this week, Men’s Health Forum aims to:
- Promote the wide range of new technologies now available to improve men’s health
- Develop new materials for men to use on the internet, their mobile phone, etc.
- Encourage service providers to seize these new opportunities to reach men effectively
- Encourage more men to access health information on the internet and mobile phones
Further help on depression
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