INTERVIEW

Academic, athlete and hurling coach Dr Noel Richardson is on a mission to change farmers’ attitudes towards their health, writes

HE LOST six uncles, and his father, in less than a decade. All bar one were involved in farming.

One aunt, of a similar age, passed away during the same period.

After witnessing such high levels of familial male death, compared to women’s death, over a short period of time, Dr Noel Richardson distinctly remembers thinking, “What’s going on here? Why is it, on average, that men are dying at a much faster rate than women? What is it about their approach and attitude to health that is causing such differences? How can farmers adapt or change their behaviours to give them a better quality of life?”

Dr Richardson, a lecturer and director of the National Centre for Men’s Health (NCMH) at IT Carlow, and former Irish international distance runner, has spent the last 10 years searching for answers.

“I basically asked questions. Men were never programmed to die five or six years younger than women. It’s principally down to cultures and attitudes and approaches to health,” he says.

Although Dr Richardson, originally from dairy farm in Ahane, Co Limerick, says our wider society has made tremendous progress in breaking the culture of silence associated with men’s health, when it comes to farming, he contends that the evidence doesn’t reflect the same results.

“There are a number of particular challenges. Studies show that the incidence of chronic disease, cardiovascular disease and cancers is much higher in farmers than the general population.

“Evidence also suggests that farmers have a disproportionate incidence of occupational injuries, lower-back problems and arthritis,” he adds.

A recent study on health risks in farming, carried out by the NCMH and the Irish Heart Foundation, found that 80pc of farmers had four or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Dr Richardson, who spoke on the issue at last year’s Teagasc National Dairy Conference, pointed out that the rate of cancer deaths among farmers is three times higher than other occupations, and 60pc of farmers who never smoked have developed chronic respiratory symptoms, while 56pc suffer from lower-back pain and musculoskeletal disorders.

Admission rates to psychiatric hospitals were also higher for farmers than for any other occupation group.

The former physical trainer for the four-in-a-row Kilkenny All-Ireland hurling champions, between 2006 and 2009, believes obesity is the most significant health problem facing farmers.

He links the epidemic to dietary behaviours and farmers overestimating how much activity they do as part of their routine work.

“A big problem with farmers is lifestyle issues. The classic things like smoking, drinking, diet, obesity and not doing enough physical activity.

“Although farming has traditionally been seen as one of the more active occupations, the mechanisation, and growing influence of technology on farms, has removed a lot of the physical work.

“Obesity is the precursor to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and it is associated with a lot of cancers as well.”

Although cardiovascular diseases and cancers are more associated with older farmers, he is concerned that young farmers consider themselves impregnable to harm.

“Young men in their 20s and