Men's Healthy Habits: How Women Can Benefit
Brothers are doing it for themselves. That's right ladies, when it comes to health, men are representing in three key areas. Because exercise, sleep, and stress can be determining factors in keeping your weight in check, we take our hats off to the guys for doing better than we have been in the past. In case you're wondering, here are some ways we can benefit from thinking like a man when it comes to health.
Men Exercise More
Researchers from Oregon State University found men exercise almost twice as much as women. They outfitted over 1,000 men and women with accelerometers that measured their daily activity. The study published in Preventive Medicine found women got 18 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity to men’s 30 minutes. You may know that the USDA recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise a week in addition to two days of strength training. If women use the same amount of time to measure up, they’ll have to use their 18 minutes a day doing vigorous activity, such as high impact aerobics, jumping rope, or water jogging. That should get us to the alternative of 75 minutes of vigorous activity. However, to prevent weight gain, the guidelines require 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity most days. If you’ve lost weight and are looking to keep the weight off, you’re looking at 60-90 minutes of moderate activity. Both men and women in America are a far cry from that. So you know, the USDA found that accumulating approximately 8,000 steps a day is associated with obtaining 30 minutes of activity, while accumulating 7,000 every day of the week is consistent with obtaining 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity weekly.
Men Shoot First
While it would seem that women are under more stress than men, according to a number of studies, this is not the case. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association, men and women report similar average stress levels. The reason why women may seem to be more stressed is because we’re less apt to fight our way out of it. A study by University of Southern California researchers found men who are under stress take more risk than females. Where exercising more or changing our eating habits is needed, women may take the safer route in making the switch. But sometimes drastic matters are needed. Changing dinner or wake times, being away from children a little longer, or staving off cleaning by a day may seem like big risks. But, because higher risk is associated with higher reward, men may be more apt to just go for it anyway to reap the benefits. While women do report more social support, we may ask questions first and be slower to sacrifice our current stressful circumstance to get to a healthier, happier existence.
Men Get Sleep
The National Sleep Foundation reports 49 percent of men sleep well most nights compared to just 34 percent of women. Their Sleep in America poll found women are more likely than men to have difficulty falling and staying asleep as well. Reports also show that women have a higher incidence of insomnia. Yet women need more sleep. A report by Dr. Jim Horne, sleep science expert explains on average women need twenty more minutes of sleep than men. He points to the fact that women tend to multi-task more and use more of their brain than men. That’s not slight to men who know how to shut it down after a hard day.
Where Men Need Improvement
Okay, men are not perfect when it comes to health. We’ll start with the big one, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, men are 24 % less likely than women to have visited the doctor in the past year and are 22% more likely to neglect preventive care, such as their cholesterol tests. Women are also beating men out when it comes to healthy eating habits. A report by the International Food Information Council suggests women are more likely than men to eat foods to maintain overall health and wellness. All in all, men have the wherewithal to make changes decidedly to be healthier, but women hold the key to maintain good behavior.
Your thoughts…
What cues have you taken from the opposite sex to become healthier?
Comments
My wife sleeps 8 hours and then some! If there's one area I'm failing, I would say it's sleep. Besides that, eating my half meals, working out 12 to 15 minutes a day with HIIT workouts, and hydrating (water before every meal) certainly got me thin and is keeping me there. SO, my wife is sleeping plenty but not doing my workouts...gotta motivate her to do so! :-)
Jim ~ half meal habit
If I had a wife (instead of being the wife) I could sleep in, exercise, and whatnot too. This post kind of irritates me.
I know of many cases where the husband take care of his wife, when
she complain of some sickness, more than the wife would care of her husband
when he is unwell... Would that explains, in part, the reason of men deaths earlier than women, perhaps?
I know of many cases where the husband take care of his wife, when
she complain of some sickness, more than the wife would care of her husband
when he is unwell... Would that explains, in part, the reason of men deaths earlier than women's, perhaps?
This is kinda insensitive, if I cant sleep through my 4 months old cries at night, and my husband can then it's my husband who is doing the right thing...
And same for kinda everything else, he can train because I pick kids in the evening and so on...
In my office, when the lone male is up and moving, he's being industrious...when the girls are away from their posts, they are shirking their duties! It's a MAN'S world, baby, all the way!
Original Post by: coachtodI have definitely taken cues from the woman in my life on healthier eating, portion control, moderation of indulgences, and eating small frequent meals.
I've totally taken cues from the men in my life! My fiance and I both have some trouble sleeping, but overall we've learned a lot from one another.
As far as the man not helping out in the household, I feel very blessed to have my beau - we pretty much split the household work (depending on our work & school schedules) and we still have time to spend hiking/fishing/exercising with HIIT workouts together. I think it's all about making time & compromising with one another. Seems to work for us!
to all of the women knocking their guys' habits:
this post is not about men in general--it's about men who make a goal of being more fit/thin/etc. The article is stating that compared to women, men who are working on their fitness and health-related goals, take bigger risks, are more committed, and make more drastic and necessary changes than women thus reaping rewards more quickly and seemingly easily.
Original Post by: evaclareto all of the women knocking their guys' habits:
this post is not about men in general--it's about men who make a goal of being more fit/thin/etc. The article is stating that compared to women, men who are working on their fitness and health-related goals, take bigger risks, are more committed, and make more drastic and necessary changes than women thus reaping rewards more quickly and seemingly easily.
Not knocking the guys here...where do you see that happening?
Without going into a dissertation regarding gender roles and expectations, suffice to say that men and women tackle their issues from very different perspectives. We cannot think like men because we are NOT men. That's one of the reasons why we generally do not take big risks. And I seriously doubt there are many women out there who would, without guilt, take 5 hours a week away from their families to focus on themselves: whether in the gym, at the salon or in solitude. Doesn't make it right or wrong: it is what it is.
Original Post by: hobbbsOriginal Post by: evaclareto all of the women knocking their guys' habits:
this post is not about men in general--it's about men who make a goal of being more fit/thin/etc. The article is stating that compared to women, men who are working on their fitness and health-related goals, take bigger risks, are more committed, and make more drastic and necessary changes than women thus reaping rewards more quickly and seemingly easily.
Not knocking the guys here...where do you see that happening?
Without going into a dissertation regarding gender roles and expectations, suffice to say that men and women tackle their issues from very different perspectives. We cannot think like men because we are NOT men. That's one of the reasons why we generally do not take big risks. And I seriously doubt there are many women out there who would, without guilt, take 5 hours a week away from their families to focus on themselves: whether in the gym, at the salon or in solitude. Doesn't make it right or wrong: it is what it is.
Hobbbs, some of the female commenters are actually knocking the guys. I agree with evaclare though, this article isn't saying men or women are better than the other. They are just drawing comparisons between men and women who change lifestyle habits.
From what I have read on the forums and articles is that women are just as strong at changing from unhealthy lifestyles. The article is not wrong, it just highlights how men and women look at the risks involved with the change.
Not all men are slobs, and not all women feel guilty when devoting time to themselves. The commenters should not generalize, if your boyfriend is lazy and doesn't clean up after himself you cannot assume all men are the same. I know women who don't clean up after themselves, it is not restricted to only men. I also know women who don't feel guilty about leaving their kids with their fathers, or grandparents while they go out and enjoy themselves away from the kids. It is so wrong to put people in the same boxes.
Getting into shape and becoming more healthy should be a personal journey. It should not involve comparing ourselves to other people but instead getting motivation from them to pursue our own goals. We can learn from each other, never can we be each other.
I have definitely started to exercise more because of my boyfriend. he is pretty fit and does those Insanity DVD's at home so I give him time doing the DVD and go to the gym.
I must be one of the lucky women out there though because we definitely split the housework down the middle. God bless my man!!
There are published studies that show that women make up for vigorous exercise by eating enough to make up for it while men benefit from the exercise and lose weight better that way. (Don't have time to find the article, sorry.) Overall the women are undoubtedly better off for having done the exercise, but it's not the best method of weight loss for women, at least according to that study.
I have personally experienced this. I lose weight best by going on almost daily walks or by lean muscle building and moderate ellitical use and tend not to lose when I'm doing vigorous exercise such as playing sports or doing long bike rides. In the latter cases, I am ravenously hungry the day after.
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I have definitely taken cues from the woman in my life on healthier eating, portion control, moderation of indulgences, and eating small frequent meals.