How Are You? Jacqui Thompson
Movember may be over, but the issue of men’s health remains at large. While much of the information in this article will apply to people irrespective their gender, statistically many of the men who read this will be at greater risk than many of their female counterparts. The NZ Legal Profession – a profile In 2016 the New Zealand Law Society in partnership with Vitality Works4 conducted an online health assessment among lawyers.5 These results showed that one in two were insufficiently active, one in two did not get enough sleep and one in three could improve their mental well-being. Four hundred lawyers responded and of those:
Let’s face it: we all know our health should not be a topic we address once a year at New Year’s Eve with a resolution that we will break by the end of January. However, those resolutions can be useful in starting a thought process around what we want from our lives. While much of what follows applies across the board, the statistics on male health and wellbeing are not great.1 In the year to 30 June 2020, men made up 68% of the deaths by suicide in NZ. 2 There was an increase in suicide statistics among Māori and Pacific Islanders.
40% received scores indicating that they have good overall wellbeing; 53% received moderate scores, and are likely to be in reasonable health, but have at least one area of wellbeing that could be significantly improved; and 7% were classified as having poor overall wellbeing and need to improve some key lifestyle behaviours. Lawyers have good physical wellbeing compared with the average, mostly attributable to higher consumption of fruit and vegetables, and lower consumption of sugary drinks and smoking. However, the survey suggested that:
Lawyers have twice the rate of poor mental health. Few lawyers have good social and work well-being. Lawyers sit for longer periods, eat too much junk food and drink more alcohol than the average. They work longer hours, are more fatigued and less satisfied with their work life balance. More lawyers report that they struggle to bounce back after setbacks.
The international stats are also concerning3: 1. Men have a suicide rate three times higher than women. 2. One in three men have been the victims of domestic violence. 3. Men on average die 4-5 years before women. 4. Men are nearly twice as likely to suffer from lung cancer than women. 5. Men are nearly twice as likely to suffer from heart disease than women.
Overseas There have been several international studies, particularly those in the US, that monitor
Most of the statistical information readily available tends to be binary male/female. Suicide rates rise to highest-ever level (Stuff, 26 August 2019) https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/115290090/suicide-rates-up-on-the-previous-year-latestfigures-show accessed 6-12-20 3 https://internationalmensday.com/challenges/ accessed 6/12/20 4 Vitality Works delivers wellbeing programmes to businesses. For more information visit https://vitalityworks.health/ 5 Harmer, S. “How healthy are New Zealand lawyers?” LawTalk 2 June 2017 1 2
www.nzbar.org.nz
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