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Help Me Keep a Million Men Alive
By Jed Diamond, Ph.D.
"If you could make male mortality rates the same as female rates, you would do
more good than curing cancer." Randolph M. Nesse, M.D.
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Jed Diamond, Ph.D. has been a health-care professional for more than 40 years. He is the
author of 10 books, including MenAlive: Stop Killer Stress with Simple Energy Healing Tools ,
Surviving Male Menopause, and Mr. Mean: Saving Your Relationship from the Irritable Male
Syndrome. I offer counseling to men, women, and couples in his office in California or by
phone with people throughout the U.S. and around the world. To receive a Free E-book on
Men’s Health and a free subscription to my e-newsletter go tohttp://facebook.com/menalivenow. If you enjoy my articles, please subscribe. I write to
everyone who joins my tribe of followers.
When I was five-years old and my father was forty-two, he tried to commit suicide.The stresses of trying to earn a living and provide for his family during difficult economictimes overwhelmed him. Though he didn’t die physically, he was crippled emotionallyand our lives were never the same. I grew up wondering what happened to my father and to so many other wounded fathers. Men today, and the women and children wholove them, need our help as never before.
According to the National Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, each year nearly 35,000 people kill themselves. 28,000 (nearly 80%) are male. Eleven times thatnumber attempt suicide.
But suicide isn’t the only way men’s lives are cut short. “80 percent of all illnessesare stress induced,” says Woodson Merrell, MD, Chairman of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center. Although stress impacts everyone,men are particularly vulnerable. According to social scientist Dr. Thomas Joiner, “Malesexperience higher mortality rates than females at all stages of life from conception to oldage.”
Statistics from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention show thatmen have a higher death rate for the ten leading causes of death (numbers are deathsper 100,000 population):
Cause of Death Men Women Male/Female Ratio
Heart disease 248.5 162.2 1.5
Cancer 220.1 153.6 1.4
Injuries (unintentional) 55.2 25.5 2.1
Cerebrovascular disease 43.9 42.6 1.03
Chronic lower respiratorydisease 47.6 35.9 1.3
Diabetes 27.4 20.1 1.4
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Pneumonia/flu 21.2 15.5 1.4
HIV infection 5.9 2.2 2.7
Suicide 18.0 4.5 4.0
Homicide 9.7 2.5 3.9
“Over 330,000 lives would be saved in a single year in the U.S. alone if men's risk of dying was as low as women's,” says University of Michigan researcher, Daniel J.Kruger, PhD. "Being male is now the single largest demographic factor for earlydeath," says Kruger’s colleague, Randolph M. Nesse, M.D. I grieve for the men andboys whose lives are cut short and for the women and families left behind.
Here’s my simple idea: We know stress kills, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
If we can reduce men’s risk of death to the same level as women’s, we can save nearlya million men within three years. Do you have ideas on how we can we best do that? Are you part of an organization that is committed to the health of men and their families? Would you like to help us help men? Let me hear from you.
Jed [email protected] www.MenAlive.com
707 459-5505.
