Fit2Thrive Journal July 2025
Breaking the Silence: A Call to Action
June marks Men's Health Month. It highlights a public health crisis that demands immediate attention: more than 133,000 men die early every year in the UK, equating to 15 men every hour. Two in five men are dying prematurely before age 75, often from entirely preventable health conditions.
The statistics reveal a pattern of health avoidance among men. Almost 64% of men wait more than a week before visiting a doctor with symptoms, while 48% believe it's normal to avoid health checks. Less than 40% of those eligible take NHS checks, missing opportunities for detection and prevention. This crisis also encompasses mental, financial, and spiritual well-being. Our culture often discourages help-seeking behaviour, creating barriers that are costing lives. It’s time to challenge these norms and inspire positive change.
Physical Health: Confronting the Crisis
The physical health challenges facing men in the UK are stark. A boy born in the UK in 2021 can expect to live to 78.7 years, four years less than a girl. Men living in the most deprived regions are 81% more likely to die prematurely than those in the wealthiest areas. The leading causes of premature death—lung cancer and heart disease—are largely preventable through lifestyle modifications. Yet men consistently engage in higher-risk behaviours than women, including smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and avoidance of healthcare services. Men have a 37% higher risk of dying from cancer and a 67% higher chance of dying from cancers that affect both sexes.
Practical Physical Health Strategies:
Regular screenings are essential for early detection and prevention. Men should build relationships with healthcare providers, committing to annual check-ups, including blood pressure monitoring, cholesterol tests, diabetes tests, and age-appropriate cancer screenings, such as prostate checks. These steps can detect problems when they're most treatable. Smoking cessation remains one of the most impactful changes a man can make.
Physical activity should be incorporated into daily routines through enjoyable, sustainable activities. The WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, plus muscle-strengthening exercises 2-3 times per week. This can include walking, cycling, swimming, team sports, or gym workouts.
Nutrition education and meal planning can dramatically improve health outcomes. Learning to prepare simple, healthy meals, understanding portion sizes, and making informed food choices can reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The NHS Eatwell Guide provides practical guidance for healthy eating.
Mental Health: Breaking Down Barriers
The mental health crisis among UK men represents one of the most urgent aspects of the broader health emergency. Three-quarters of all suicides are committed by men, a pattern that has persisted since the mid-1990s. Suicide is the leading cause of death among men aged 20-34, with the overall male suicide rate three times higher than for women.
Despite these alarming statistics, men are significantly less likely to seek mental health support. Only 36% of NHS talking therapy referrals are for men, and men report lower life satisfaction than women. This disparity reflects cultural barriers that discourage emotional expression and help-seeking behaviour among men. The manifestation of mental health problems in men often differs from classic presentations, with depression potentially expressed through anger, irritability, substance use, or risk-taking behaviour rather than sadness.
Men are nearly three times as likely as women to become alcohol dependent and three times as likely to report frequent drug use. Substance use often serves as self-medication for underlying mental health problems, creating cycles where mental health issues and substance problems reinforce each other.
Practical Mental Health Strategies:
Emotional literacy development is fundamental. Learning to identify, understand, and express emotions healthily includes recognising physical sensations associated with emotions, understanding triggers, and developing vocabulary for emotional experiences. Building and maintaining social connections is also essential. Men should invest in friendships beyond work relationships, maintain family contact, and participate in community activities. Social connections provide emotional support, practical assistance, and belonging that are crucial for mental well-being.
Professional mental health support should be normalised. This includes therapy, counselling, psychiatric treatment when appropriate, and peer support groups. Men should be encouraged to seek help early rather than waiting until problems become severe.
Financial Wellness: The Hidden Health Factor
The connection between financial well-being and overall health represents an underappreciated aspect of men's wellness. Financial stress can have profound impacts on both physical and mental health outcomes, creating bidirectional relationships where financial challenges decrease mental well-being, and poor mental health impairs financial decision-making.
For men specifically, financial stress can be particularly challenging due to societal expectations around the male provider role. Many men derive significant identity and self-worth from their ability to provide financially. Research shows that men living with financial stress are more likely to experience metabolic abnormalities, increasing cardiovascular event risk. Financial stress also contributes to high blood pressure, sleep disorders, digestive problems, and immune dysfunction through chronic stress hormone release.
Financial wellness encompasses financial literacy, planning skills, and healthy money attitudes. Many men lack basic financial education in budgeting, saving, investing, and debt management, leading to poor decisions that create long-term stress and health impacts.
Practical Financial Wellness Strategies:
Budgeting represents the foundation of financial wellness. Maintaining budgets helps individuals understand income and expenses and make informed decisions. Well-designed budgets reduce financial uncertainty and stress while providing roadmaps for achieving goals. Emergency fund building should be prioritised regardless of income level. Financial experts recommend saving three to six months' expenses in accessible accounts to provide a safety net for emergencies.
Debt reduction strategies can significantly improve both financial and health outcomes.
Spiritual and Emotional Wellness: Nurturing the Inner Self
Spiritual and emotional wellness significantly impact overall well-being, resilience, and life satisfaction. Spiritual wellness doesn't necessarily require religious belief but encompasses purpose and meaning in life, connection to something greater than oneself, and development of personal values guiding decision-making. The benefits of spiritual practices for men's health are well-documented. Meditation, prayer, mindfulness, and contemplative practices reduce stress hormones like cortisol, lower blood pressure, improve immune function, improve mental health by reducing anxiety and depression, enhancing emotional regulation, and promoting calm and clarity.
Meditation represents one of the most accessible practices for men's health. Regular practice reduces blood pressure, improves heart health, enhances endurance, reduces chronic pain, and improves sleep quality. Mentally, meditation sharpens focus, improves memory, enhances decision-making, and helps manage stress and anxiety.
Practical Spiritual and Emotional Wellness Strategies:
Guided meditations through apps and online platforms provide structure for beginners. Start with just a few minutes daily and gradually increase duration.
Emotional intelligence development involves learning to recognise, understand, and manage emotions effectively. This includes developing emotional vocabulary, understanding triggers, and learning healthy expression and processing methods through therapy, self-help resources, workshops, or peer support.
Community involvement and connection enhance spiritual wellness while addressing the social isolation many men experience. This might involve joining spiritual or religious communities, participating in men's groups, engaging in community service, or prioritising time with family and friends. Service to others provides powerful pathways to spiritual wellness through meaning, purpose, and connection.
A Call to Action: Transforming Men's Health
The statistics we've explored represent not just numbers but a call to action demanding immediate response from individuals, families, communities, and policymakers. Tackling preventable diseases in men could save the UK £9.4 billion annually while saving countless lives.
Individual action represents the foundation of transformation. Every man has the power to make choices that dramatically improve health outcomes and quality of life. This begins with the courage to prioritise health and wellbeing, seek help when needed, and challenge cultural messages equating strength with suffering in silence.
The vision for the future is clear: a United Kingdom where men live long, healthy, fulfilling lives; where seeking help is seen as strength rather than weakness; where health services are accessible and responsive to men's needs; where workplaces support rather than undermine health; and where communities provide essential support and connection. The transformation of men's health will not happen overnight, but it can begin today. Together, we can create a future where today's concerning statistics become history.
References
The Guardian. (2024, July 16). Call for action on UK men's health as 133,000 die early every year. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/17/movember-men-male-early-deaths-uk-call-for-action
UK Parliament. (2023). Men's health. https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7858/mens-health/publications/
Mental Health Foundation. (2024). Men and women: statistics. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/statistics/men-women-statistics
Sendero. (2024, June 6). Integrating Financial Wellness into Men's Health Month. https://sendero.com/integrating-financial-wellness-into-mens-health-month/
Sedona Soul Adventures. (2024, July 12). Meditation Practices to Enhance Male Wellness. https://sedonasouladventures.com/articles/meditation-practices-to-enhance-male-wellness/
For immediate mental health support, contact Samaritans on 116 123 (free). For non-emergency health concerns, contact your GP or call NHS 111.
