The impact of Men's Lifestyle

As men's and women's lifestyles have converged over the last hundred years or so, gender has less of an impact on health than was once the case. Apart from the obvious differences, such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer and other gender specific, or gender biased, illnesses, men and women do tend to have the same health problems.

Where the major differences used to be in lifestyle, such as dangerous activities, smoking, alcohol consumption and working long unsocial hours, have gradually evaporated. Women are as almost as likely as men to smoke, thus exposing themselves to all the health problems associated with smoking: lung cancer, bronchitis, heart disease, and stroke. However, the smoking bias is still slightly towards men, although this may change as young women and teenage girls are as likely or more likely to smoke than their male counterparts, depending on where you live.

Dangerous and adventurous activities were once the confine of men, with the consequential danger and threat to their lives. Again, the bias is probably still with men; however, women are more likely these days to go sky diving, or some other dangerous activity, than they once were. So, although men's lifestyle amy still be a bit more dangerous than women's, the difference is not as distinct as it once was.

Male bravado, though, can still have a negative impact on their health risks. This is especially so with driving, as a recent survey from Traffic Stats showed that men have a 70% higher risk of dying in a traffic accident than men. In Asia, there is a what the World Health organization call an epidemic of motorcycle accidents, with young men being at the forefront of the traffic slaughter.

By and large, though, men's lifestyle no longer makes such a difference to their health risks as was once the case.