Around six out of 10 British fathers are out of shape and putting themselves at risk of heart disease, according to a poll by the Benenden Healthcare Society and charity Men’s Health Forum.
The study of 2,000 dads found that 40% weren’t able to help out at home because they were too exhausted as a result of work, and men often felt fed up, too tired to play with their children or snapped at them because of feeling overworked and undernourished.
The research was published just before the start of Men’s Health Week in June. It also coincided with a number of other separate pieces of research into men’s health.
The British Journal of Cancer, for example, reported in May that men suffering from psychiatric problems when diagnosed with cancer are more likely to die from the disease than those without mental issues.
Moreover, those with psychiatric illness were generally older when they were diagnosed with cancer, possibly indicating a delay in diagnosis, it added.
A study conducted in the US, meanwhile, has argued that there are significantly higher numbers of bacteria in male-only workplaces than in female ones.
Researchers took 450 swab samples from 90 offices occupied by men and women in New York, San Francisco and Tucson, and identified a total of 500 types of bacteria. The majority of the bacteria originated from human skin, noses, ears and “intestinal cavities”, the interactive open-access journal Public Library of Science ONE has said.
Finally, a report in the journal Tobacco Control has argued that there is no convincing evidence that men are better at quitting smoking than women.
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Below the age of 50, women were indeed more likely than men to give up smoking; this was particularly evident among those in their 20s and 30s.
But among older age groups it was the other way round. Men over the age of 60 are more likely to give up smoking than women, although this may simply reflect higher death rates from smoking in older men, the study argued.
