For a majority of men, it is all about the numbers especially sports fans. They can recite statistics of their favorite teams and players without hesitation: Lebron James, the 2009 NBA regular season MVP averaged 28 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds last year; the Los Angeles Lakers won their 15th NBA championship, 2 behind the Boston Celtics; Peyton Manning passed for over 4,000 yards winning his 3rd MVP last year; Albert Pujols is batting .325 with a league-leading 34 home runs this year; Wayne Gretzky ended his career with 2,857 total points; Tony Stewart leads the Sprint Cup Series by 192 points; and Pele scored 77 goals in international games over his career.
But there are also important health numbers that most men never remember and these numbers may even describe their personality. Here are some numbers you should be aware of:
Normal Body Mass Index (BMI) range is 18.5 – 24.9 (calculate yours here – https://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/)
Normal Blood Pressure is anything 120/80 mmHg and below (more information here – https://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4473)
Total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dl (more information here – https://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=183)
Glucose levels should be below 100 mg/dl when fasting (more information here – https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003482.htm)
Prostate Specific Antigen test results below 4.0 ng/mL is normal (more information, including PSA velocity here – https://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/PSA)
So, how do your numbers compare? Are you living within healthy numbers?
Other stats to think about:
Men have a life expectancy of 5 or more years less than women, regardless of race.
Men have higher mortality rates in 9 of the top 10 causes of death.
The ratio of men to women is 85:100 by the age of 65.
1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in his lifetime.
Prevalence rates for HIV/AIDS in men outnumber women 3:1.
