Originally published in the April 2011 Extreme Health issue
There's a good chance that you have no idea. In this exclusive survey, Esquire learned that overall, men should be healthier — but perhaps more important, that many men are ignorant about their health. A third haven't had a checkup in more than a year. Almost half don't even have a doctor. Three in four don't know their BMI, and 40 percent of men in their forties haven't had a simple cholesterol test. Men don't talk about health. We don't complain about it or ask for advice about it. But we do worry about it. Silently and insufficiently, but we worry — with good reason, it turns out. Getting healthier — truly, fundamentally healthier — requires more than a few extra crunches. It often requires something extreme. Maybe not as extreme as some of the fanatics we talked to for our April Extreme Health issue, but extreme. So learn from them. Glean from them. But first, look at the survey. For once, the best thing you can do for your health is sit on your ass and read.
1. How old are you?
18 to 29: 20%
30 to 40: 60%
41 to 50: 20%
2. How much do you weigh?
Less than 100 pounds: 0.8%
100 to 149 pounds: 11%
150 to 180 pounds: 34%
181 to 200 pounds: 19%
201 to 249 pounds: 22%
250 pounds or more: 12%
3. What is your waist size?
Less than 32 inches: 16%
(Age 18 to 29: 26%
30 to 40: 10%
41 to 50: 9%)
32 to 34 inches: 37%
35 to 36 inches: 19%
37 to 40 inches: 19%
41 inches or more: 9%
4. How tall are you?
THE YOUNG MAN*
• Can touch his toes.
• Is less likely to have a regular doctor. Come on, 18- to 29-year-olds!
• Turns to doctors more than the Internet for health advice, but not by much.
• If he smokes, has a 10% chance of smoking twenty or more cigarettes a day.
• Apparently has more trouble crapping than older men, or is too busy — 12% say they do it once a week or less.
• Is just as worried about living long enough to see his kids get married as are men twice his age.
• Is more likely to want to be kept alive on life support.
• One in four say they "never" have sex.
• Almost one in three say they masturbate every day, twice the number of men in their forties.
*Ages 18 to 29.
5. Describe your overall health.
6. How often during the year do you get sick?
Never: 15%
1 to 3 times a year: 75%
4 to 6 times a year: 7% (9% if married)
Sometimes it feels like all the time: 2% (even if they describe themselves as being in "excellent health" — strange)
7. If you tried to touch your toes without bending your knees, how close would you get?
I can touch them easily: 54%
I can touch them, but with great difficulty: 23%
I can only get a few inches away: 17%
Not even close: 5% (unless they don't exercise regularly, in which case: 12%)
8. In your opinion, how much weight could you stand to lose?
None, I'm fine the way I am: 30%
5 pounds: 10%
10 pounds 21%
20 pounds: 18%
More than 20 pounds: 21%
9. What is your race?
NOTE: 10% are of Hispanic or Latino descent.
10. Do you know your body-mass index (BMI)?
Yes: 20%
(Age 18 to 29: 30%
30 to 40: 18%
41 to 50: 15%)
No: 73%
What's a body-mass index? 8%
11. Do you have a primary-care physician (a doctor you routinely go to)?
12. When was your last routine checkup?
13. Which of these preventative procedures have you had?
(For men ages 41 to 50)
Colonoscopy: 17%
Prostate exam: 30%
Stress test: 18%
Cholesterol-level test: 59%
Diabetes test: 42%
Prostate blood test: 21%
None of these: 19%
THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN*
• Smokes marijuana as frequently as men in their twenties.
• Is looking good — 40% have a 32- to 34-inch waist.
• Is, then again, twice as likely as a man in his twenties to be more than twenty pounds overweight.
• Has a 47% chance of being able to touch his toes easily — less than half, but hey, 47%!
• Has no idea what his BMI is but at least probably knows what it stands for, which is a start.
• Is far more likely to have a regular doctor.
• Should maybe think about getting his cholesterol checked. (More than a third haven't.)
• Is more likely to smoke than men in their twenties; of forty-something smokers, half smoke more than a pack a day.
• Stands a chance of having sex every day. A 5.7% chance, but a chance.
• Eats better than he did ten years ago.
• Isn't worried about ED nearly as much as other major health concerns.
• Would want to be taken off life support if it came to that (91% compared with 63% of narcissistic twenty-somethings).
*Ages 41 to 50.
14. Can you see your penis when you're standing up?
15. For which of the following do you take medication?
Allergies: 15%
Alzheimer's: 0.8%
Anxiety: 10%
Arthritis: 5%
Cancer: 1%
Depression: 12%
Diabetes: 6%
Hair loss: 2%
Heart disease: 2%
High blood pressure: 11%
Obesity: 2%
Sleeping difficulties: 9%
Weight loss: 2%
None of these: 61%
16. Are you married?
17. What is your personal income?
Less than $25,000: 31%
$25,000 to $49,999: 30%
$50,000 to $74,999: 20%
$75,000 to $99,999: 8%
$100,000 or more: 7%
18. Do you take vitamins on a regular basis?
19. Where do you go to seek medical advice and information?
Physicians: 65%
The Internet: 48%
Friends and relatives: 36%
Health magazines: 14%
Books: 11%
20. How often do you exercise or work out?
Never: 19%
Once a month or less: 10%
Two or three times a month: 7%
Once a week: 11%
Two or three times a week: 34%
Every day: 19%
21. Do you smoke marijuana?
NOTE: Answers were consistent regardless of age, ethnicity, income, or marital status.
22. If yes, how often?
Only when someone else has it: 6%
Only on special occasions: 10%
At least once a month: 8%
At least once a week: 21%
At least once a day: 56%
23. How long could you run at full speed before becoming winded?
Less than one minute: 23%
Two to three minutes: 44%
Four to five minutes: 19%
More than five minutes: 14%
24. How many pull-ups could you do right now?
Three or more: 56%
I do sets of five regularly: 19%
Yeah, right — none: 25%
25. How many push-ups?
5 to 10: 21%
11 to 20: 23%
More than 20: 44%
I could go on forever: 4%
Zero: 7%
26. What's your idea of a "good workout"?
Five-mile run, ten-mile bike ride, laps in the pool, weights: 14%
One hour of cardio, one hour of weights: 57%
Push-ups and sit-ups before bed: 19%
Taking out the garbage: 9%
27. While at work, are you usually...
THE MARRIED MAN
• Thinks he looks pretty good, weightwise, but not as good as unmarried men think they look.
• Is far more likely to have a regular doctor, and he actually goes for checkups.
• Is no more or less likely to partake in the smoking of marijuana.
• Also doesn't drink more or less heavily.
• Is getting some: 68% report having sex between once a week and every day, versus 43% of unmarried men. Although there was one married guy who answered "only on special occasions."
• Masturbates less frequently than the unmarried man, but still 9% hit it every day. (Strangely, 3% of unmarried men masturbate "only on special occasions." We have no idea what that could mean.)
• Don't sleep as much.
• 10% get sick more than four times a year, versus only 5% of unmarried men.
28. Do you smoke?
29. If yes, how many cigarettes a day?
Less than 5: 11%
5 to 10: 29%
11 to 19: 28%
20 or more: 28%
30. How often do you drink alcohol?
Only on special occasions: 14%
1 to 3 times a month: 17%
1 to 3 times a week: 35%
Every day: 6%
Never: 27%
31. When you're drinking, how many drinks do you have?
1 to 2: 40%
3 to 5: 34%
5 to 7: 15%
8 or more: 11%
32. Do you ever worry about how much you drink?
33. How often do you masturbate?
Once a year or less: 3%
2 to 3 times a year: 3%
Once a month: 8%
1 to 3 times a week: 42%
Every day: 17%
Only on special occasions: 2%
It's up to my partner: 2%
Never: 24%
34. How often do you have a bowel movement?
Once a week or less: 5%
Every 2 to 3 days: 13%
Once a day: 50%
More than once a day: 32%
Only on special occasions: 0%
35. How much sleep do you usually get a night?
36. How often do you have sex?
37. Have you ever been treated for an STD?
38. How much attention do you pay to the healthiness of what you eat?
A lot — I think about it at every meal: 21%
A little — I think about it, but I'm not afraid to indulge sometimes: 58%
It hardly crosses my mind: 21%
39. Do you eat better or worse than you did ten years ago?
40. How many times each week do you eat fast food?
Once a month or less: 33%
1 to 3 times a week: 57%
Every day: 5%
Never: 6%
41. When was the last time you ate a fresh piece of fruit?
Today: 32%
Within the last week: 43%
More than a week ago: 23%
Can't recall — I hate fruit: 2%
42. Which of the following is true?
Men don't worry about their health as much as women do: 62%
Men worry about their health as much as women do, if not more, but they do less about it: 39%
43. Which scares you the most?
Cancer: 41% — across every age group
Heart attack: 25%
HIV: 13% (20% of 18- to 29-year-olds versus 5% of 41-to 50-year-olds)
Alzheimer's: 8%
Getting struck by lightning: 7%
Erectile dysfunction: 6%
THE WEALTHY MAN
• Is only half as likely to report being in fair or poor health as the man making less than $25,000 a year.
• Is generally far more up-to-date with his medical tests. (Prostate exam, cholesterol levels, colonoscopy — 20% of men in the $75K-plus bracket have had a colonoscopy whereas only 6% of the sub-$25K group have.)
• Is likelier to have a doctor and get checkups ... but still, one in three haven't had one in more than a year.
• Has more sex, confirming the long-held belief that wealthy men have more sex.
• Is three times as likely to be taking hair-loss medication.
• Buys and consumes vitamins more.
• Is twice as likely to work out every day.
• Never drinks more than ten drinks.
• Sometimes eats fast food, just like everybody else.
• Three in four have a primary-care physician; only 40% of men making less than $25,000 do.
• Men who make less than $25K are three times as likely to get five hours of sleep a night or less.
44. Which medical exam gives you the most anxiety?
Prostate exam: 36%
Colonoscopy: 36%
Dental checkup: 23%
Hernia exam: 5%
45. Whether you have kids or not, do you ever worry about living to see graduations and weddings?
46. If you could, would you want to live to be 100?
47. Rank the order in which the following things worry you:
Family: 37%
Money: 35%
Your health: 15% (but 40% ranked health first or second)
Work: 4%
Sex: 4%
The Kardashians: 4%
48. Hypothetically, if you were on life support, would you want to be...
Fun with Cross-Referencing
• Of men who describe themselves as being in excellent or good health, the exact same percentage have a regular doctor.
• 20% of men who don't have a regular doctor say they "never" get sick.
• White men are much less likely to be able to touch their toes — one in four can't do it.
• White men are also more likely to have been checked for diabetes — one of the leading causes of death for black men — outpacing nonwhites by 10%.
• Unmarried men are apparently less motivated to get a prostate exam.
• Men who regularly see a doctor are more than three times as likely to take an antidepressant. As are white men.
• When asked where they turn for medical advice — "friends/relatives, physicians, health magazines, men's magazines, TV, radio, newspapers, the Internet, or books" — 1.5% of men who make less than $25,000 answered "none of these." Note that "physicians" was one of the choices.
• Three times more white men than nonwhite men "never" work out.
• The less money you make, the more likely you are to be in constant motion all day. Which is healthier than sitting all day.
• 17% of male smokers who describe themselves as being in excellent or good health smoke twenty or more cigarettes a day.
• Men who make more than $50,000 a year are less likely to be worried about how much they drink.
• More exercise leads to more bowel movements.
• One in ten men who describe themselves as being in excellent health eat fast food every day.
• White men are less likely to want to live to be 100. Nonwhite men are more likely to want to be kept on life support.
• Of men aged 41 to 50 who smoke pot, not one answered that they smoke only "when someone buys it for me."
• But one guy who makes more than seventy-five grand a year said so.
About Our Methodology
The 2011 Esquire Scientific Survey of Men and Their Health was conducted exclusively for Esquire by Beta Research Corporation, an independent firm located in Syosset, New York. The 519 respondents were randomly selected from a pool of Internet-connected U. S. adult males. Margin of error at the 95 percent level of confidence is +/ — 4 percent. The respondents completed the online survey in January 2011. Because of rounding, some percentages may not add up to 100.
Illustrations by Mark Nerys
