Of all the things in the fields of both public health and healthcare that pique my interest and attention most, it’s health disparities, specifically the numbers 5 and 7. In a country as productive and innovative as ours, it’s a particularly vexing reality check whenever I’m faced with those two numbers, which I’ve listed below...Continue reading
Category: Growing Up
Breaking the Mother-Son Dynamic: Resetting the Patterns of a Man’s Life and Loves
Thomas Wolfe says, “You can never go home again.” However, to go forward, I have to go backward from time to time. I return to the places where the dreams began: my hometown and the small college where I did my undergraduate work. That’s where I’m sitting right now, writing these pages. Through the windows I see the amphitheater...Continue reading
Time to Clean Out the Clean Plate Club
Whether we’re buying a new car or a bagel and a cup of coffee, it’s human nature to want to get the best deal. That’s probably why we have a tendency to eat everything that’s put in front of us. Twenty years ago, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing–you could probably have cleaned your plate...Continue reading
When Being Number One Is Bad News
It’s no secret that guilt plays havoc with our health. People who feel guilty for extended periods of time are, on average, more depressed, more anxious, more stressed, and have a weaker immune system than those who go through life without the guilt. They’re also more likely to engage in risky, destructive behavior, including self-medicating...Continue reading
Epigenetics: The Real Reason You Are Who You Are
You share 99.5% of your DNA with the person sitting next to you. In fact, you share 97.5% of your DNA with mice. And, believe it or not, 50% of banana DNA is identical to yours! So what makes you so special? Epigenetics. The New Plastics Remember the scene in “The Graduate” when the smug, older businessman...Continue reading
The Flipside of Living Forever
Name some issues brand new to this world in the last 100 years. How about nuclear war, environmental pollution and climate change? Medically, we can blame carpal tunnel syndrome on the typewriter or computer keyboard, and “automobile knee” on that awful car commute. Hard to know whether these marks on modern society are preferable to...Continue reading
Engaging Men in Health: A Holiday Season Challenge
By Broderick Johnson, White House, and Armin Brott, Men’s Health Network As men, we don’t always prioritize our health the way we should. So many other responsibilities seem to come first, such as work, family, or making sure our friends and co-workers can count on us. Those things are immensely important, no question. But too often, we...Continue reading
The Boy with the Varicocele
The case of the month is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic His head was topped with bobbing red hair and his face full of freckles. Thin as a beanpole, he spoke softly as if trying to control his cracking pubertal voice. All in, he appeared to be the stuff that teenage boys are...Continue reading
Could Masculinity Be Killing You?
From the time we’re little, we’re taught that big boys don’t cry and told that when times get tough, we just need to “man up.” The message is so strong that even a baby could figure it out (and plenty do): boys shouldn’t cry. Put a different way, boys–and later, men–need to be tough. “Real”...Continue reading
7 Tips for New (and Not-So-New) Dads About Kids’ Health
Just a few months ago, my brother welcomed his newborn son to the world. Imagine the differences between his experience and the experience my own father had when we were born. Case in point: When my mom was delivering me in the hospital, my dad had no idea how to help during labor. Flustered and...Continue reading