By Kevin Masci, Pharm D and Todd Norwood, PT, DPT, FACHE
This edition covers:
- Men in the U.S. are underutilizing preventive care
- How male gender norms impact health behavior
- Why early prevention matters for men
For all the advances in medicine and technology, one stubborn truth remains: men in the US still underutilize preventive care.
In a culture that often/many times celebrates toughness and self-reliance, many men wait until symptoms are undeniable or a crisis forces their hand. These patterns can ultimately increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, chronic pain and disability, and/or reduce quality of life and longevity. Cardiovascular risk, in particular, often builds quietly for years before it becomes visible.
As clinicians, we see the downstream consequences of delayed preventive care every day. We also see a paradox: men who are disciplined, data-driven, and proactive in nearly every other area of life often avoid their own health maintenance. This isn't about a lack of intelligence or discipline. The barriers are real: fear of what a diagnosis might mean, schedules that leave no room for provider visits, and a lifetime of cultural messages that frame help-seeking as weakness.
We know men can engage in prevention, and we believe it’s time to change the narrative and reframe prevention as an expression of strength.
Men Avoid Using Preventive Health Services
Survey after survey show that many men avoid the doctor and skip routine screenings, even when they’re recommended. A Cleveland Clinic survey found that 72% would rather do household chores than go to the doctor, and only half would consider getting regular health screenings.
Men are less likely than women to use preventive services such as blood pressure checks, cholesterol testing, and routine exams.
These patterns show up in outcomes: men develop many cardiometabolic conditions earlier and have shorter average lifespans.
Underneath the statistics are ordinary decisions that impact health down the line: ignoring routine doctor visits and labwork, shrugging off chest discomfort, toughing out back pain, or pushing through low mood and stress with no support. Gender norms about toughness, self-sufficiency, and “not making a fuss” push many men to downplay symptoms, assume problems will “work themselves out,” or wait for a dramatic wake-up call. By then, the window for easy intervention has often passed.
The irony is that in other domains such as sports, vehicles and grooming, those same men are often meticulous, scheduled, and proactive.
The Juxtaposition of Common Male Habits and Preventive Health Behavior
Many men already practice the underlying skills that preventive health requires. We already follow schedules, monitor performance, and maintain the things that matter to us. The opportunity is to direct some of that same attention toward ourselves. Not because it will be easy, but because the infrastructure is already there.
Your stats, not just your rosters
If you're into fantasy football, you probably know your roster cold. You track rushing yards, red-zone targets, snap counts, and injury reports, and you adjust lineups by the hour on game day. Now consider a few relevant stats for your own health:
- Do you know your last blood pressure reading as well as your QB’s completion percentage?
- Could you name your latest A1c or cholesterol levels as easily as your WR1’s yards after catch?
When a star running back tweaks a hamstring, fantasy managers are on it immediately, checking reports, planning substitutions, and monitoring recovery. When it comes to tracking your own health numbers, the stakes are much higher. A bad number means something about your body, not just your lineup, and that is part of what makes this harder. But the core habit of paying attention to data, noticing trends, and acting on what you find is directly transferable. The question is whether you are willing to apply it to yourself.
Engine gauges and warning lights
When the “check engine” light glows on your dashboard, you might not know exactly what’s wrong, but you know it’s worth getting checked before you’re stranded on the side of the highway. Your body has gauges and warning lights too, such as:
- Blood pressure creeping up
- New chest tightness when you climb stairs
- Numbness or burning in your feet
- Knee or back pain that keeps returning
Ignoring those signals doesn’t make you tougher, it just makes the eventual breakdown more likely and more expensive physically, emotionally, and financially.
Shaving, barber visits, and routine care as a standard commitment
For many men, grooming is non‑negotiable. You shave regularly without overthinking it. You book barber appointments on a schedule and keep them. You sit in the chair, trust the professional, and walk out feeling sharper. Preventive care can work the same way:
- Primary care visits and screenings are standing appointments, not last‑minute emergencies
- Honest conversations vs. the partial truths many men admit to in surveys
- Medication refills and lab checks are routine maintenance, like replacing blades before they dull
Why Early Prevention Matters for Men
Cardiovascular disease develops over time
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men in the United States. Diabetes and prediabetes are common and often silent in early stages, especially when routine glucose or A1c checks are skipped. These conditions often build over years through elevated blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, weight gain, rising glucose, and lifestyle patterns that go unaddressed. In fact, men are likely to exhibit elevated cholesterol levels a full decade before women. When these signals are caught early, nutrition changes, targeted activity, and medications can dramatically reduce risk.
Ignoring aches and pains can create chronic musculoskeletal issues
In the physical therapy clinic, we often see men who have powered through back, shoulder, or knee pain for months or years. What started as a manageable issue has evolved into chronic pain, compensation patterns and lost function. This is a pattern consistent with how under-treated musculoskeletal problems contribute to disability and cost. They come in only when pain interferes with work, sleep, or the activities they love.
Contrast that with how you’d treat a strange noise coming from your truck or flickering light in your living room. You might let it go for a short while, but you are aware that it could be the symptom of a larger issue that shouldn’t be left unaddressed.
Mental health is a bigger problem than the numbers show
Nearly 1 in 10 men experience depression or anxiety, and this figure almost certainly understates the true prevalence when subclinical distress, untreated substance use, and the well-documented tendency of men to underreport symptoms are factored in. Yet many men have absorbed the message that feeling overwhelmed is a personal failure and that seeking help is “unmanly.” This results in lower rates of mental health treatment, higher rates of suicide and substance-related death, and suffering that did not have to reach crisis level.
But consider where men already open up and discuss their emotions honestly: in the barber chair, at the gym, on the golf course, and in the group chat. This same openness doesn’t always make it into the exam room or therapy office, where effective help is available.
Even our favorite professional athletes, including some of the all time greats, work with sports psychologists to support their emotional and mental well-being.
Five Preventive Health Behaviors to Start Today
What does it look like to put all this into practice? Think of these five areas as the “key players” on your health roster, you don’t need to start all five at once.
The evidence on behavior change is consistent: building one habit, making it sustainable, and adding from there works better than a full overhaul. Start with the area that has the most room to improve, and build from there.
1. Know and track your numbers
Learn your key metrics: blood pressure, cholesterol, A1c or fasting glucose, waist circumference, and weight trend. These are all critical markers tied to future cardiovascular and metabolic risk.
- Treat them like season-long stats. Track them on your phone or patient portal and watch how they respond to changes in activity, nutrition, sleep, and medications.
- Work with your clinician to set targets and a plan, the same way you’d map out a fantasy draft strategy or weight training plan.
2. Move with purpose, not just intensity
Mix strength training, mobility, and cardio rather than relying on occasional “weekend warrior” efforts. A balanced approach supports your metabolic, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal health more effectively than sporadic intensity. Think of it like maintaining a car—performance depends on regular maintenance, not irregular trips to the mechanic.
A simple, research-backed starting point:
- Walk more, add two days of resistance training each week, and build gradually from there. What matters most is consistency over time, not how hard you push on any single day.
If you’re dealing with persistent pain or a specific injury, consider an evaluation with a physical therapist or qualified clinician before activity becomes more limited.
3. Treat pain as a signal, not a test
If pain is persistent, worsening, or limiting the way you move, get it evaluated; early intervention can often prevent chronic pain and disability.
- Early physical therapy or medical care can keep a small issue from turning into surgery, chronic pain, or missed work.
- Listening to pain is not “giving in”; it’s reading the gauges and adjusting course.
4. Invest in metabolic and lifestyle health
- Build a pattern of eating that prioritizes whole foods, fiber, and lean protein most days, and minimizes added sugars.
- Aim for regular sleep and consistent movement rather than perfection; both are linked to better cardiometabolic outcomes.
- If you drink alcohol, drink it in moderation and avoid tobacco; both drive risk for cardiovascular disease and several cancers.
- If you have access to a health coaching program, whether through your employer or health plan, look into it. Lifestyle support between doctor’s visits helps keep your progress in check.
You don't need a total life overhaul. Small, consistent upgrades are like weekly waiver-wire moves: modest in the moment, powerful over a season.
5. Shift from crisis management to purposeful prevention
Put annual checkups, dental visits, and key screenings on the calendar the way you schedule haircuts, oil changes, or fantasy drafts.
- Show up prepared: know your questions, share your concerns, and be honest about what’s working and what isn’t. Honesty improves the quality of care and is exactly what many men say they struggle with in surveys.
- Think of your clinician as part of your “coaching staff,” not just an emergency technician.
Be Strong for Yourself, Not Just Everyone Else
At its core, this is a conversation about what strength really means. Stoicism and silence in the face of warning signs may look tough on the surface, but they often lead to more pain, more limitation, and fewer healthy years.
Strength can mean something different than what many of us were taught:
- Paying attention to your own “stats” and acting on them
- Respecting the warning lights instead of taping over the dashboard
- Showing up for routine care as reliably as you show up for the people and commitments you value
- Being honest with yourself and with your care team about what you’re feeling and what you need.
We know that managing your own health is not always easy, but that’s not a reason to avoid it. Rather, it’s a reason to start smaller and build more deliberately than you might think necessary. We know life will always throw challenges our way. Prevention is about entering those challenges with as much capacity, reserve, and resilience as possible.
