Most Canadian men live unhealthy lifestyles: study

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – New research shows most men in Canada are not living a healthy lifestyle.

Joe Rachert with the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation says 72 per cent of men live unhealthy lives.

“And that is looking at the five lifestyle behaviours that contribute to chronic disease in men. Those are smoking, not enough sleep, inactivity, unhealthy eating and alcohol consumption.”

The research found only six per cent of Canadian men are what would be considered living a perfectly healthy lifestyle.

“Which is pretty darn low across the country,” Rachert admits. “They don’t smoke, that’s for sure, they get enough sleep and it doesn’t say they don’t drink — because you can actually have, you can drink alcohol, that’s not an issue. It’s how much you drink.”

In addition to that, these guys are also eating healthy and are being active enough.

Now that there’s a baseline, Rachert says he hopes men will look at the data and try to make better choices.

“When research was done in the past, it’s always kind of been about diseases. So you know, X number of men have cancer, X number of men have Type two diabetes, or X number of men have heart disease. But that’s the destination, and our research is about the path,” he says. “We’re hoping guys will take a look at maybe how we’re looking at health now under these categories.”

He hopes it gives men a sense of where they stand, and in turn a starting point. “And then look at that starting point and say ‘OK, I’m going to change this one because it’s the easiest, and then I’m going to move on to this one, and then this one.’)

So what can you do to change your behaviour for the better? Rachert says start small.

“If you have two or three of these unhealthy behaviours, or four, don’t try to change them all at once. It’s all about small little changes. If you take on everything at once you’re kind of doomed to failure.”

That could mean ordering half fries and half salad when you’re out with the guys for dinner, he says, or even ordering a glass of water for every beer you have.

“Don’t have more than three beers in a day. If you don’t get seven hours of sleep, aim for that seven hours of sleep.”

If you’re looking for more tips, you can head to dontchangemuch.ca.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today