American men are concerned about staying healthy, but different generations go about it in different ways, according to a new survey. Cleveland Clinic found that 95% of men of any age in the U.S. consider their health a top priority, and 87% are worried about making sure their current habits and practices will help them maintain better health down the road. That’s good news, experts say. But Gen X could stand to take some cues from their younger counterparts, according to the survey’s findings, and Gen Z would do well to pick up some of the boomers’ preventative habits.
Here’s what to know.
1. Younger men are taking their mental health more seriously
Nearly 60% of millennial and Gen Z men say they are taking care of their mental health, according to Cleveland Clinic’s survey of more than 1,000 U.S. men. Men with mental health conditions still seek help at lower rates than women, but their use of psychological care has risen, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. “Seeing that the younger generation is talking about [mental health] more is really promising,” Dr. Peter Bajic, director of the Center for Men’s Health at Cleveland Clinic, tells Yahoo Life.
It’s particularly good news, given the “epidemic” of mental health issues that’s overwhelmed men and women alike in recent years, Dr. Joseph Alukal, a Columbia University urologist who heads up the university’s Men’s Health Program, tells Yahoo Life. “As a group, the stigma around mental health that existed previously for older men has thankfully been eroded a ton.” Alukal credits celebrities, including Michael Phelps, for setting a good example for younger men by speaking out about their mental health struggles. “I think it’s gone a long way to helping young people understand that these are a real set of health conditions like any other that you would get treatment for,” he adds.
2. Millennials and Gen Z-ers aren’t getting their checkups
About a third of younger men reported receiving annual physical exams, compared to 61% of boomers and Gen Xers. And millennial and Gen Z men were less than half as likely to get all the screenings and tests their health care providers recommended compared to older men (23% vs. 48%, respectively). Bajic does point out that younger men aren’t at risk for as many health problems that require constant care. “But I do think these younger generations are more likely to seek care for problems through online health platforms that, many times, offer easy fixes to problems without offering help for the underlying root of the problem.” He adds that having an established relationship with a health care provider can ensure that you’re being monitored for any changes and know how to address any nascent issues.
The American Heart Association, for example, recommends that all adults ages 20 and older get their blood pressure checked every two years and have their cholesterol levels checked every four to six years. “That’s an important piece of preventive health care,” Alukal says. “If I can identify blood pressure or cholesterol issues at that [younger] age, I can make interventions that make it far more likely that in his 50s or 60s or even 40s that he’s not dealing with heart disease.” But, he adds, that “requires that person putting himself in front of some sort of health care provider at least once a year.”
3. Young men are more likely to seek health advice online — but everyone does it
Even baby boomers — 5% of them, per the new survey — turn to social media for health advice or information. Not surprisingly, Gen Z is most likely to consult TikTok or Instagram, with 33% of men in the generation looking to social media for wellbeing tips. Just shy of a quarter of millennials do the same. Alukal isn’t convinced that’s altogether bad, with some caveats. “Last I checked, everybody is doing that, irrespective of age,” he says. “Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong — we should teach [patients] to take what they find there with a grain of salt.”
4. More older men are staying away from vaping and smoking
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and while 60% of baby boomers and Gen X-ers surveyed by Cleveland Clinic avoid using cigarettes or e-cigarettes, only 43% of millennials and Gen Z-ers say they don’t smoke or vape. “The younger generations have really wholeheartedly embraced vaping,” says Alukal, who wishes these men would take note of the lessons learned from decades of cigarette-related health problems. Older generations, on the other hand, are “really having a hard time leaving alcohol in the past,” he says, while full sobriety and occasional drinking have become popular among young people.
What younger generations can learn from older ones — and vice versa
Experts are encouraged to see that young men are embracing mental health care, and would love to see older generations follow their lead. Alukal has been impressed by the fact that his younger male patients also tend to be more conscious of their fitness and diet, and are more proactive.
Older patients “could learn a degree of that self-sufficiency,” he says. But on the other hand, he’d like to see younger men learn to follow the rules the way their elders do. If older men are told to get a colonoscopy every three years, for example, they do it, according to Alukal (although, notably, the survey found that 31% of Gen X-ers and boomers who should be getting screened for colorectal cancer haven’t been). “The younger group needs to look at the older group and say, ‘I should do the same.’”
