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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.

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 Mens Health and a free subscription to my e-newsletter go to http://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 economic times overwhelmed him. Though he didnt die physically, he was crippled emotionally and 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 who love 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 that number attempt suicide. But suicide isnt the only way mens lives are cut short. 80 percent of all illnesses are 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, Males experience higher mortality rates than females at all stages of life from conception to old age. Statistics from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that men have a higher death rate for the ten leading causes of death (numbers are deaths per 100,000 population): Cause of Death Heart disease Cancer Injuries (unintentional) Cerebrovascular disease Chronic lower respiratory disease Diabetes Men 248.5 220.1 55.2 43.9 Women 162.2 153.6 25.5 42.6 Male/Female Ratio 1.5 1.4 2.1 1.03

47.6 27.4

35.9 20.1

1.3 1.4

Pneumonia/flu HIV infection Suicide Homicide

21.2 5.9 18.0 9.7

15.5 2.2 4.5 2.5

1.4 2.7 4.0 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 early death," says Krugers colleague, Randolph M. Nesse, M.D. I grieve for the men and boys whose lives are cut short and for the women and families left behind. Heres my simple idea: We know stress kills, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If we can reduce mens risk of death to the same level as womens, we can save nearly a 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 Diamond Jed@MenAlive.com www.MenAlive.com 707 459-5505.