Stress Destroys Many Men

Syndicated columnist Jim Sanderson recently commented on the attitudes and drives that cause many males to suffer from stress.

“United States public health statistics show that males make 25 per cent fewer visits to doctors and dentists than females. When men finally do concede they need help it’s likely to be a problem which has gone further than it should have.”

This “be strong” attitude, combined with the effects of stress, may account for a shocking change. In the 1920’s the average man died about a year younger than a woman. Now he dies 7.7 years younger. Sanderson continues:

“No matter how hard he’s been working, he doesn’t feel he has the right to linger in bed. A man should be up and doing something useful. . . . Many men feel that asking for help also is ‘feminine’ . . . To fall sick is to become dependent on someone. To have an annual medical check up is to be a hypochondriac.

“Nobody understands how many male physical problems are caused by stress: the constant driving, striving for goals which always seem to recede before a man. When tensions build in a woman, she seems to know better how to give vent to her emotions [such as by crying]. But to be ‘emotional’ for a man is to lose control.”

Interestingly, this article in “The Seattle Times” was entitled “Macho Is Murder.”