Men’s Health Month: What preventative care men should be taking

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Maintaining a healthy body is important for both genders but also taking the time to bring awareness to common health issues that are more common in one encourages early detection and treatment, according to family physician at Seasons Family Medicine, Dr. Michael Packer.

"The essence of preventative medicine is that catching something early and dealing with it almost always means less pain, less trouble, less procedures than catching it later," Dr. Packer said.

There are key things Dr. Packer suggests everyone should be doing to stay healthy, "The foundational thing is active lifestyle and healthy diet."

As men get older, Dr. Packer says there are common health issues they should be actively preventing.

"Age by age, there are different things that we ought to be following when you hit your 40s and 50s we need to be doing some cancer screening like screening for prostate cancer, screening for colon cancer. The biggest risk for men is cardiovascular disease and so making sure that cholesterol is well controlled making sure they don't have diabetes, making sure their blood pressure is controlled."

According to a study done by the CDC, most preventative care visits are made by women versus men. Dr. Packer tells us this is especially concerning during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people have put off their medical care.

"A healthier person, if they get the disease is a lot better than somebody who has a lot of other health issues," Dr. Packer said.

Many doctors in the area are offering telehealth visits for those who don't feel comfortable coming in.