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Men could make themselves richer and a lot healthier by cutting back on a few vices, says a report released Monday by the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation.
Knowing the personal financial costs of smoking, excessive drinking and being overweight should give men another motivation to make changes for the better, says Dr. Larry Goldenberg, a professor of urology at the University of British Columbia, who founded the non-profit group two years ago.
“Men are risk takers more than women … Women drink, women smoke, women are fat, but men are worse. It’s that difference that’s costing us a lot and that we’re trying to address,” he says.
The report calculates how much extra cash men would have if they didn’t smoke, drink or weigh too much and instead invested that money along with the cost of higher insurance premiums. The results are staggering, turning paupers into millionaires. (See graphic.)
But the more realistic goal of the foundation is to get men to make small changes that could make a big difference over a lifetime. Its Don’t Change Much campaign encourages men to exercise more, see a doctor and eat healthier food, particularly those in the 30 to 65 age group.
“Young guys pay attention to their health. They want to be fit — that’s Mother Nature speaking — they want to attract a mate, they want to have a family. Then they get involved in their work and their growing family and they tend to ignore their health,” says Goldenberg, who also holds the Mohseni Chair in Men’s Health at Vancouver General Hospital.
And men are more likely to be at the extreme ends of unhealthy behaviour, with binge drinking, heavy smoking, and super-obesity.
Monday’s analysis on individual costs is a followup to the foundation’s 2015 report that estimated a $36.9-billion-a-year burden to Canadian society from men’s smoking, drinking, excess weight and physical inactivity.
The Canadian Men’s Health Foundation is an outgrowth of the Men’s Health Initiative of B.C., a project aimed at increasing men’s life expectancy — which is closing in on women’s but still lags by about four years — through education on preventive health.
For more information go to: menshealthfoundation.ca
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