Study finds that men really, really don't want to go to the doctor


Men really, really don't want to talk about what's going on down there. But it's not just performance and urinary issues most men want to avoid discussing with another living soul — a new survey of 500 men by the Cleveland Clinic found that most have no idea even when to do routine tests, such as having their blood pressure or cholesterol checked. The researchers further found that about 40 percent of men won't even go to their annual checkup, Newsweek reports.
Part of the problem stems from men's unwillingness to talk or learn about their health: Only 7 percent of men said they would willingly talk to their male friends about their health, and only 5 percent would about performance issues, and 3 percent about urinary issues. Almost 20 percent of millennial men and 7 percent of baby boomers had no idea what a "urologist" is.
Women typically are much more open to discussing health issues; unsurprisingly, about 20 percent of men responding to the survey said they went to the doctor just to get their wife or girlfriend to quit nagging them. And hey, it shows: Single men have a mortality rate 27 percent higher than men who live with someone else.
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"Many men overlook the fact that your male friend may be a resource for you or an experiential resource, or they may know the right physician to see or may be supportive," one of the study's researchers, Dr. Eric Klein, told Newsweek. "I think women are more experienced with feeling vulnerable and experience it more frequently and know how to deal with it better."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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