The surprising health lessons women can learn from men (& vice versa )

Deciding which is t he healthier sex was a question that until recently was quite easy to answer — women won hands down.

However, the tables are turning. in most parts of the country, women still tend to live the longest. But the latest figures from the Office for national Statistics show that men now enjoy a greater proportion of their life in good health than women — 79.7 per cent compared with 76.9.

certainly there is something we can all learn from the other gender’s health habits, as the experts reveal . . .

HOW MEN SHOULD COPY WOMEN

TAKE UP YOGA

POP your head into a yoga class and it’s immediately obvious it’s something of a woman’s ‘thing’. Yet while yoga is good for both sexes for improving flexibility and toning muscles, arguably men benefit more, says Professor Samuele Marcora, director of the school of sport and exercise sciences at the University of Kent.

‘Because of the effects of the male hormone testosterone, men have more connective tissue in their muscles than women — this is what holds the muscle to the bone and keeps it nice and big and strong,’ he explains.

‘But it also makes the muscles harder and less flexible than a woman’s. And when men exercise they tend to go for workouts that build muscle bulk rather than make it flexible.’

Yet muscle flexibility becomes more important as you age, helping you maintain a full range of movements — and ultimately, your independence. A lack of flexibility increases the risks of musculoskeletal injuries such as strains and sprains.

Professor Marcora says there is another benefit for men. ‘Men classically do not discuss their problems or what is stressing them. So joining a yoga class — which teaches you to focus on breathing deeply and to concentrate on the here and now, rather than worrying what else may be going on in your life — can be very beneficial.

‘i started doing it when i had some stresses in my life and found it to be really helpful — but i was just about the only man there.’

SPEND LESS TIME ON THE LOO

THE sight of a man disappearing into the loo with his newspaper or book is all too familiar. Men don’t spend just a bit more time in there, they spend a great deal more; men spend on average 1 hour 45 minutes on the loo a week, compared with 85 minutes for women, according to survey of 2,500 people in 2008.

This can lead to piles (haemorrhoids), says Matthew Hanson, a colorectal surgeon at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Piles are essentially swollen blood vessels. Sitting on the loo with your bottom pointed down can cause the venous plexus (a collection of veins in the rectum) to swell with blood.

‘in this position the entire contents of the abdominal cavity are pushing down on the pelvic f l oor and this encourages blood to pool down by the rectum,’ says Mr Hanson.

‘This will encourage any existing haemorrhoids to bleed and may actually encourage the development of haemorrhoids in the first place.

‘That’s why i tell my patients to get up as soon as they have finished, but some — typically men — say they sit there for 20 minutes or half an hour with a newspaper or playing on their iPhones.’

There is no biological reason that men need longer. ‘if you talk to men, it seems that locking themselves in the loo is their quiet time — they say it’s their time to escape from the family,’ adds Mr Hanson.

PAY ATTENTION TO HEALTH CAMPAIGNS

WHEN women read about a health scare or see a public health message that relates to their symptoms they tend to go to the doctor about it, says Professor ian Banks, of the european Men’s Health Forum.

‘Men do the absolute opposite,’ he says. ‘Men fear a diagnosis, whereas women are better at confronting it.’

EXERCISE YOUR PELVIC FLOOR

KEEPING your pelvic floor muscles strong is a mantra drummed into women during pregnancy, but it’s a message men need to listen to, too, to stop embarrassing leaks. in men, the urethra, which carries urine out of the body, is shaped like a U-bend. ‘When men are young the surrounding muscles contract strongly, helping propel the last drop of urine stuck in the bottom of the U-bend,’ says Marc Laniado, a consultant urologist from nuada Urology in London.

‘However as they get older, these muscles lose their tone and some urine gets left behind when they’ve been to the loo. Then once they start to walk away, the movement stimulates the urethra to push out the last bit of urine. it’s the most common cause of leakage in men.’

Strengthening the pelvic floor helps the muscles around the urethra. it can help with a man’s sex life, too. Research presented at the european congress of Urology in 2014 found that men affected by premature ejaculation who did the exercises for three months improved the amount of time they could last.

To i dentify the muscles, sit relaxed, and tighten the muscle around the back passage, as if trying to control wind. You should feel a dip at the base of the penis, while the scrotum moves up slightly.

To do the exercises, sit, stand or lie with your knees slightly apart. Slowly tighten and pull up the pelvic floor muscles as hard as you can for as long as you can — ideally ten seconds. Rest for four seconds then repeat. Mr Laniado suggests men do this three times a day from the age of 45.

LISTEN TO YOUR BIOLOGICAL CLOCK

WOMEN know that the older they are, the less likely they are to conceive. Yet recent research has shown that men, too, should listen to their biological clocks.

A U.S. study published in 2006 in gynaecology and Obstetrics found that men over 40 have a 60 per cent higher risk of conceiving a pregnancy that ends in miscarriage compared with a man aged 25-29.

Furthermore the children of older fathers are more likely to have autism, schizophrenia, learning difficulties, and even cancer.

The problem is that the sperm are made by stem cells in the testes and over time these are more likely to create cells with genetic mistakes, says Professor Sheena Lewis, an emeritus professor of reproductive medicine at Queen’s University, Belfast. She recommends that men have their children by 45.

A study published in nature in 2012 found a 20-year- old father would pass on 25 genetic mutations while a 40-year-old passed on 65. While some mutations may bring benefits, others may raise the risk of disease.

HOW WOMEN SHOULD COPY MEN BUILD MUSCLE — LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS

WOMEN often shy away from weightlifting, fearing it will give them a masculine physique. in fact they have much to gain from pumping iron and have little chance of bulking up, says Professor Marcora. And muscle is important, helping keep joints strong and playing a part in metabolism.

Women have less muscle mass than men to begin with, because the hormone testosterone encourages the development of bulky muscles. And as women age — but especially after the menopause — they lose muscle and bone strength rapidly, which can lead to frailty.

Weight-bearing not only encourages new bone, but it keeps the muscles strong, ‘vital to help prevent falls which become more potentially serious for women post-menopause when their bones are weakened,’ says Professor Marcora.

Weight training i s especially beneficial as it encourages the brain and the spinal cord to activate muscles more, making them stronger and more flexible.

Muscles also burn more calories ‘and post-menopausal women are more likely to gain weight — and when they diet, they lose muscle — so weight training is a perfect way to counter that,’ he adds.

However he says that when women do weights they tend to do lots of repetitions with light weights which is not going to increase the actual strength of the muscle.

‘You’re using the right weight if you can lift it more than six times but no more than ten times — you need to really feel it,’ he says.

‘Aim to work each muscle group in this way a couple of times a week.’

And don’t worry about developing bulging biceps.

‘even though women need more muscle mass, it is not that easy to increase it,’ he says. ‘ Men can achieve it more easily because of their testosterone, but for women it’s actually very hard to do that.’

DON’T BOTHER WITH HOUSEHOLD CHORES

WHILE there might be the odd new man out there, the harsh reality is that women still do the lion’s share of the housework.

Last month researchers at the University of essex, who examined the habits of 30,000 couples, found that women spend on average 14 hours a week doing the chores while men do a paltry six.

And this could be damaging women’s health. A study from the University of Pittsburgh found that those who took on the majority of the housework had significantly higher blood pressure than those who left it to their partners.

The study, published i n the journal Psychosomatic Medicine in 2011, suggested the repetitive nature of chores added to stressrelated blood pressure problems.

The findings are important as high blood pressure is more of a risk factor for heart disease for postmenopausal women then men, says Sundip Patel, a consultant cardiologist at the London Bridge Hospital.

EAT CARBS

MANY women will pass on the bread basket — a survey of 3,000 people in 2013 found that 50 per cent of women feel guilty about eating carbs, double the number of men.

This could have repercussions as carbs, especially wholegrains, are a great source of fibre — just 70 per cent of women have the recommended 30g of f i bre per day, compared with 87 per cent of men.

‘The fact that so many women now avoid or minimise carbs could be one reason for this difference,’ says Sian Porter, a dietitian based in Moulton, northamptonshire.

WEAR LACE-UP SHOES

IT’S hard to better the men’s laceup brogue when it comes to shoes, says emma Ashdown, a podiatrist based in Ashtead, Surrey.

‘They hold the foot in place,’ she says. ‘With slip-ons the foot has to keep working to keep the shoe on — the toes dig in all the time which can lead to hammer toes and calluses.

‘completely flat shoes, like women wear, put too much strain on the Achilles tendon and wearing too high a heel can pull on muscles and lead to problems with the back and hips.

‘The other plus of men’s brogues is they’re made of leather, which helps the feet breathe.’ This means their feet are less likely to smell or develop fungal infections.