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Day 19
Schedule a Physical
Men are reluctant to pay a visit to the man in the white coat. Studies have
shown that more than half of the men in the United States have not been
to see a doctor in the past year. And 55% of men admit that they are reluctant
to visit the doctor. When we do go, we usually wait until we’re missing
an arm or have a javelin stuck through our head.
There are a few reasons why men don’t visit the doctor on a regular
basis. One reason that I hear quite frequently from my male friends is that
going to the doctor is just too inconvenient. I understand this sentiment.
You go for what should be a 30-minute check-up, only to wait in the lobby
for an hour, and then you spend another 20 minutes sitting bare-bottomed
on some butcher paper in the exam room.
Another reason men avoid the doctor is that we’ve been socialized since
childhood to believe that being a man means sucking it up when you have
an illness or injury. Going to the doctor for some men means admitting
that you’re weak and defected, and, thus, unmanly.
I think one of the biggest reasons men don’t go to the doctor for regular
check-ups is that we view the doctor as someone we only visit when something’s
wrong with us. We don’t see going to the doctor as a way to prevent
health problems before they start.
Finally, some of us are nervous about going to the doctor because we’re
afraid they’ll find something wrong with us. But of course, that reason
doesn’t make an ounce of sense. Because while being diagnosed with something
isn’t very fun, it’s a barrel of monkeys compared to dying.
So today, we’re going to get over our reluctance to visit the man in the
white coat and schedule a physical for ourselves.