[Music]
welcome to the Kings podcast season two
my name is Danielle and I’m here with my
co-host smasa today’s episode is
dedicated to Men’s Health month and
we’re here today with Dr Aly razik hi do
please can you introduce yourself for
the viewers I’m Dr Ali razak I’m a
consultant in Family Medicine uh and
medical director based at Kings College
Hospital marinaa Medical Center in Dubai
Marina it’s man’s health month this
month um commonly known as November will
you be growing the mustache out a bit
longer this month or what’s your plans
yeah it’s a very good question uh I am
considering it uh obviously I’ve got my
my beard already that I’m supporting but
uh I think for movember I might just
have to uh grow the the mo as it’s
commonly known as but uh but let’s see
let’s see how long you can get it by the
end of the month absolutely so because
it’s men’s health month let’s get right
into it men seek out help much less than
women do is this something that you see
in your practice so so to answer that
question absolutely yes um we know from
many many studies that that men are much
less likely in fact half as likely to go
and see a doctor for a medical condition
than than women there are a number of
reasons for for this Behavior now um one
of the main reasons is really it comes
down to these kind of Notions of
masculinity so men typically have this
sort of M show bravado uh kind of
approach to most things in life uh and
this translates into Healthcare as well
you know they’ll they’ll want to not see
a doctor because they may think of it as
a sign of weakness um they may just want
to deal with the problem themselves um a
lot of men also have a fear of of the
underlying diagnosis so at least 20% of
men actually avoid seeing their doctor
because they’re worried that there is
actually something quite seriously wrong
with them which doesn’t actually make
much sense if people do feel that there
is something wrong the worst thing that
they can do is actually to to not do
anything about it it and then you’ve
also got men who um well men generally
don’t like to be examined particularly
when it comes to sort of intimate
private examinations um there is
certainly a reluctance when it comes to
this and again it goes back to sort of
Notions of masculinity drawing on from
that um as Healthcare Providers what can
we do to encourage men to seek that help
especially in terms of prevention having
uh events like this talking about the
issues that specifically affect men so
for example for for member it’s all
about raising awareness of men’s phys
physical and mental health when it comes
to physical health it’s about talking
about conditions like you know prostate
cancer testicular cancer uh men’s mental
health as well um but really it’s about
all of us you know even our loved ones
uh uh you know wives girlfriends uh
daughters if you are concerned about
your man then then do um speak to speak
to uh speak to him to encourage him to
do that because evidence does show that
you know nagging uh somebody to to
actually go and see their doctor does
actually work so there is there is some
some evidence that shows that that’s the
case but it’s again it’s all about you
know normalizing and and uh talking
about these issues that affect men
specifically in the more natural way so
that there’s less stigma when it comes
to seeing seeing a doctor and getting
those things checked out for men okay so
nagging is is good I remember that yeah
yeah giving you permission to your your
husbands so men are more likely to
suffer from physical health problems
such as diabetes and stroke and prostate
cancer compared to women so
why do we think that that is so there’s
definitely physiological differences
between men and women so when it comes
to the biggest Killers uh uh or or the
highest causes of mortality for men
which is cardiovascular disease you know
we know that for example women um you
know estrogen is a protective Factor
against cardiovascular disease in
premenopausal populations after the
menopause then the risk starts to
increase for for women as well so that
that kind of protective um effect starts
to become downplayed but actually you
know that that doesn’t explain really
the differences between the two Sexes
there are several major risk factors
associated with things like
cardiovascular disease so they include
things like you know having high blood
pressure having high cholesterol uh
diabetes uh a poor lifestyle uh which
may include you know La lack of activity
stress and smoking and these things tend
to be a lot more prevalent in men uh
than they are in women for a lot of
these different reasons you know they
combin together to form a perfect storm
where you know men become much more at
risk of developing these sorts of things
than the female counterparts
unfortunately that’s really interesting
um a thing that we see quite a lot about
and we were quite Keen to ask you is
especially on social media we see a lot
of this kind of talk about testosterone
or trt and um people like Joe Rogan have
obviously gone publicly and kind of
promoted it or whatnot how do we
encourage people to check their
testosterone levels and how do we let
men know that they can overdo it or
underdo it or what’s the general
consensus of it so you know testosterone
is a very important hormone it’s the
it’s the main m masculine hormone and
it’s responsible for men you know having
the masculine traits like having
increased muscle mass um having
increased uh sort of libido being
ambitious um you know being full of
energy um facial hair body hair all
these sorts of things so um when it
comes to sort of uh when to tell men to
to to to get their testosterone levels
checked well typically after the age of
about 30 men’s testosterone levels start
to decline by about 1% every year um it
could be at a faster rate depending on
on sort of other comorbidities as well
so really if if you’re a man above 30
who is starting to notice that some of
the things associated with um you know
having low testosterone are what you
feel so if you feel very fatigued if you
feel that your libido is not where it
used to be if you just feel that your
motivation and and um you know your
energy levels are quite low then then
certainly at that point you should be
considering um you know having your your
your blood’s checked including your
testosterone levels um now you know what
what is the risk associated with with
treating low testosterone well you know
if if it’s if it’s done in a in a proper
way if if people come and see their
doctor whether it’s a family medicine
doctor if they find that they have low
testosterone and they end up seeing uh
get referred to some someone like an
endocrinologist a hormone specialist you
know that if it’s done in the proper way
where they’re given the right amount of
testosterone um then typically you know
a lot of the risks can be mitigated
however the risks really become more
apparent when people start to maybe you
know use uh steroids in a in a non sort
of structured way under the you know
without anyone giving them any clear
advice so so some of the risks
associated with that can be things like
having you know poor fertility so you if
you can imagine people who take
testosterone um injections what happens
with that is that um you know the body
or the brain senses that you’ve got very
high levels of testosterone and because
they’ve got very high levels then the
body starts to make much less
testosterone itself to the point where
it may start making no testosterone at
all and that will affect someone’s
fertility um it can also affect what
very high levels of testosterone can
increase the risk of cardiovascular risk
um having heart attacks having Strokes
having blood clots as well um acne um so
there are a number of and also
importantly for for older men so men who
may have prostatic problems so enlarge
prostate or even prostate cancer if they
take testosterone in a in a non sort of
medical way and non-monitored way it can
actually lead to the progression of
prostate cancer and and and prostate
disease as well so so the message really
is that if you’re concerned about low
testosterone then do see your doctor and
and get it checked in in a proper
structured medical way it’s so important
to talk about mental health and it’s
something that a lot of men don’t talk
about why do you think that is and also
what mental health issues do you see men
in Dubai coming to you with again it’s
it’s mental health is in men is
something that’s really not talked about
anywhere near as much as it should be um
so you know again it comes down to these
Notions of masculinity so so men may
think of mental health even more so than
physical health as as you know a taboo
subject or stigmatized thing and and if
you you know if you if you’re if you
have if you have a mood a mood issue if
you have you know if you feel depressed
or low this you know this is something
that that you should be ashamed of even
so you know there is a lot of this kind
of uh feeling around it when it comes to
mental health the types of conditions
that that affect men um from a mental
health point of view are things that we
see are you know depression low mood
anxiety stress
um sometimes also sort of you know
substance and alcohol uh abuse
potentially as well uh loneliness as
well all these things can contribute to
to people’s sort of declining mental
health um of course there are other sort
of more you know other conditions such
as bipolar effective disorder
schizophrenia but this tends to be seen
by by psychiatrist but certainly there’s
you know there’s evidence that shows
that at least one in five men at some
point in their lives will have some sort
of uh mental health uh type problem um
and the very sad statistic is that you
know that’s come from the member
Charities that of every minute of every
day some a man will take his own life uh
due to due to depression you know men
are three qus of of the account for
three quarters of suicides uh
unfortunately so it’s really important
that men you know understand that there
are very serious mental health issues
that can affect them and that they
should seek help when they do feel
things aren’t 100% absolutely do do you
think um relating that to kind of like
Dubai lifestyle do you think this kind
of um all work mentality or is kind of
lead into these factors of stress
depression loneliness or what do you
think that we can do as a society in
Dubai to kind of mitigate this a little
bit more Dubai is certainly a city where
people you know come here who are very
motivated and you know they want to work
hard and make the very best sort of
lives to themselves that they can and
there’s a lot of pressure to perform and
there’s a lot of pressure to to sort of
look at certain way way to you know have
the right sort of car and the right
clothes and be seen in the right places
so all these things will lead to you
know a lot of pressure on on people to
perform and and and to to have that kind
of lifestyle or to at least appear to
have that sort of Lifestyle so I think
it’s really important for for anybody
really to to kind of sometimes just take
a step back and you know if they’re
waking up and they’re working really
hard just to maintain appearances then
that’s not really a reason for them to
to sort of uh to do these things and if
they feel that things aren’t quite right
then you know that point they need to
really ask themselves that you know how
much is this sort of modern fast-paced
lifestyle affecting your mental health
and is it time for you to slow down and
and it’s really important as well with
you know when it comes to social media
as well to sort of take a break and and
a lot of these things don’t appear you
know the things that they appear they’re
not quite the same as reality um so so
people men in particular need to take
these things with with a pinch of salt
related to that on social media like you
were saying a lot of people do promote
this hyper productivity and uh wake up
at 5:00 a.m. and just on the go all the
time and how do you think that’s
negatively impacting men look I I think
there’s no harm in in in somebody
working as hard as they can to to you
know to be the very best version of
themselves that they can be by by
working hard you know as long as you
know waking up very early in the morning
is not necessarily a bad thing but you
know provided that person is getting
their adequate amount of sleep so
they’re getting their seven eight hours
of sleep you know they’re they’re
looking after their physical health
they’re looking after their mental
health so it’s all a careful Balancing
Act you know of course people will push
themselves extremely hard but as long as
they are they are looking at every
single aspect of their life and they’re
just not purely obsessed with you know
work and um and and sort of uh their
finances and and you know Keeping Up
Appearances as long as they they’re
doing the right things for their own
mental and physical health then then I’m
a supporter of that circling it back but
also linking it to the point about
social media um body dysmorphia in men
isn’t something that we’ talk about
either so we don’t really talk about
mental health in men as much as we
should and I don’t think we talk about
body dysmorphia in men as much as we
should either um but when you look at
social media men are kind of bombarded
by this imagery of the six-pack the
biceps this I don’t know sleeves this
really specific look how can self-esteem
be affected by this and is this an issue
that you hear men talk about quite a lot
or is it more just something that’s kind
of spoken about on like Tik Tok or
Instagram body dysmorphia syndrome or
disease in men is actually a very uh you
know uh prevalent condition in the last
25 years for example the it’s tripled in
incidents amongst men so it actually you
know a recent study shows that it
affects 43% of men um and that’s almost
as many as as as much as it affects um
women um so there’s definitely you know
an impact on this uh on men you know
when it comes to body dysmorphia it’s
basically where where where people may
become uh un you know unhealthy hey
obsessed or fixated with an aspect of
their physicality whether it’s their
face their nose their skin um their body
shape or muscles in an unnatural and an
unhealthy way you know you mentioned
this issue regarding sort of people
trying to look very fit and muscular um
there’s a very specific um subset of or
condition of called muscle dysmorphia or
bigorexia as they as it’s more commonly
known as um and it affects specifically
men who who actually work out um
obsessively uh and when you actually
look at these uh chaps they you know
they tend to be very muscular much more
muscular than the average person but in
their minds when they look in the mirror
you know they what they see is a small
skinny person or or an overweight person
um and although it might sound trivial
but this can really affect their their
mental uh Health in a big way and it can
lead to depression um you know being
housebound and all sorts of things like
this so it really is important that that
that people sort of take on board that
the images that they’re flashed in front
of them all the time through social
media and we live in a very visual age
at the moment unfortunately you know
although there may be some benefits to
that but also you know some of the
negative aspects you know manifes in
things like body dysmorphia syndrome and
you know all I’d say is you know looking
a certain way may not necessarily you
know accurately reflect somebody’s
actual underlying health so the most
important thing is to be healthy you
know both from a physical and mental
point of view you know and and not have
to conform to look to a specific way
just because it’s in fashion at the
moment thank you for talking to us so
far about the physical and mental health
of men we like to end the podcast with a
top secret though so with it being men’s
health month what’s your top secret for
men to look after their health I mean
what I would say is this that you know
be the very best version of yourself
that you can be but when you try and do
that make sure that you’re you know for
you to be able to do that you need to be
at your 100% when it comes to both your
physical and mental health so you know
don’t push yourself into the ground you
know don’t work yourself to the Bone but
if you’re going to work hard make sure
that you you’ve got you know that the
health capacity and and ability to do
that so you know it’s movember it’s
men’s sort of a health month you know
put yourself first get yourself checked
out you know you find out that
everything is okay that you’re healthy
that there’s nothing really on toward
and a lot of the conditions that can
affect men that cause them problems down
the line are things that are very
preventable that are very easily checked
for potentially you could save your life
by by get yourself checked out amazing
thank you very much Dr Alie thank you
thank you for having me thank you for
watching this episode of podcast Dr Ali
B up some really emotional and
insightful topics here at Kings Men’s
Health is really important to us and for
the duration of the month we will be
offering 10% off on all of our health
check packages
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