June is always a busy month for my family.  We like to joke that our June is like a lot of families' Decembers.  Today is our 7th wedding anniversary.  It's also my younger son's and my husband's birthdays.  It's also Father's Day; you know the holiday where you are supposed to go out and buy grills and tools.  Now there's another idea that Father's Day brings: health.  Today is the start of Men's Health Week, purposely choosen to have Father's Day fall within it.  (Men's Health Week is also, conveniently enough, part of Men's Health Month."

National Men's Health Week writes, "The purpose of Men's Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.

"This week gives health care providers, public policy makers, the media, and individuals an opportunity to encourage men and boys to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury. The response has been overwhelming with hundreds of awareness activities in the USA and around the globe."

One of the goals of the week is to encourage men to make an apointment for a phyiscal.  Sounds like a good idea and it is.  Men may be less likely to make appointments with physicans that women.  This can be traced back to gender sterotyping which encourages boys and men not to complain about any physical discomforit.  To "take it like a man" so to speak.

Broome County, New York writes, "Men are less likely than women to see a physician regularly, and are significantly more likely to be disconnected from the health-care system. They are often extremely reluctant to admit that there might be anything wrong until a problem is too severe to ignore.

"This reluctance is a contributing factor in the growing health disparities between men and women. The difference in life expectancies between the genders is now more than five years."

About.com's Food Allergy Blog acknowledges this problem of gender differences in health in her blog post about food allergies. She addresses the fact that the genders may cope with food allergies differently.   

Dedicating this week to health doesn't just happen in the US.  The UK now observes National Men's Health Week too.  According to Occupational Health and Safety, "The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has called on employers to support National Men's Health Week, June 9-15, in a bid to improve the health of male workers across the UK.

"This year's theme, 'Men and Work,' aims to promote the use of the workplace to deliver positive health messages to men and to encourage them to take their health more seriously."

This Father's Day, along with getting a grill, tools, or a pink tutu for the dad in your life, consider passing on info on Men's Health Week.  A list of activities and more information may be found on the Men's Health Week website.