Men's Health Guide

There is no need to stock up on a bunch of kidney-tonifying and virile-strengthening health products that cost thousands of dollars to maintain male health. The core is to focus on three daily habits with low investment and high returns, and avoid two health pitfalls that 90% of people have stepped on. The rest can be flexibly adjusted according to your own physical condition, and it is more effective than anything else.

A while ago, a back-end developer of mine came to me to complain. He said that he was 38 years old and had been suffering from backache and fatigue recently. He searched online and found all entries about kidney deficiency. He secretly bought more than 2,000 yuan of deer whip ointment and maca and took it for half a month. Instead, his backache did not go away. Instead, he suffered from oral ulcers and nosebleeds every day. Last week, his physical examination showed that uric acid had spiked to 580 and he had moderate fatty liver disease. The doctor directly asked him to stop all those messy supplements.

When it comes to the concept of "kidney deficiency" that has been hyped up by businessmen, in fact, there is a huge gap in understanding between different fields: there is no corresponding diagnostic term in the Western medicine system. Most people think that the backache, fatigue, and poor energy caused by kidney deficiency are either lumbar muscle strain caused by sitting for a long time, or endocrine disorders caused by long-term staying up late and lack of sleep, which have nothing to do with the physiological function of the kidney.； Even kidney deficiency in the context of traditional Chinese medicine can be divided into kidney yin deficiency, kidney yang deficiency, and even the difference between yin and yang deficiency. It cannot be adjusted by just eating some warm and tonic aphrodisiac products. Many people have a yin deficiency constitution. Indiscriminately eating warm and tonic things such as deer penis and ginseng is equivalent to adding fuel to the fire. It would be strange if they do not cause problems.

If you really want to keep healthy, just do the little thing of drinking water first. Don’t think this is nonsense. I met a man who ran a marathon and drove an online ride-hailing service for 8 years. In order to avoid having to run to the bathroom, he would often go without a sip of water for half a day. He would also hold back the urge to urinate. Last year, he was diagnosed with prostate calcification and suffered from repeated urinary tract infections. It cost him nearly 10,000 yuan to cure. Now he carries a thermos bottle wherever he goes, and he tells everyone he needs to drink more water. Drink enough 1.5-2L of warm water every day, do not use milk tea, cola, or cold beer instead. If you feel the urge to urinate, hold it in. This alone can help you avoid 80% of urinary system problems. Oh, by the way, don’t believe the nonsense that drinking overnight water causes cancer. As long as it doesn’t shed any ash, it’s perfectly fine to drink the cold water that has been left out overnight. Don’t be so pretentious.

Furthermore, don’t use “go to bed late and get up late, just get enough 8 hours of sleep” as an excuse to stay up late. When I was a fitness coach, I had a 29-year-old student who worked as a live broadcast operator. He would go to bed at 2 a.m. and start at 10 a.m. every day, sleeping for 8 hours at a time. As a result, the physical examination showed that the testosterone level was 30% lower than the normal value. There was a circle of soft fat on his belly. He could not even play ball and run for ten minutes without breathing. Of course, there are now studies saying that as long as the schedule is completely fixed, going to bed late and getting up late has little impact on health. However, for most ordinary people, if they are in deep sleep from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., testosterone secretion and muscle repair efficiency will indeed be higher. There is no need to force it. If you have maintained a night owl schedule for five or six years and have no physical discomfort, then there is no need to change at all. Your own comfort is the most important.

There is no need to be fooled by online fitness bloggers who say that running a half marathon without pumping iron is not exercise. I’ve seen too many people push heavy weights just to show off on social media, causing permanent damage to their waists and knees. I’ve also seen people who walk 10,000 steps a day and whose physical examination indicators are more normal than those of a young man in his fifties. Just one request: don’t sit still for more than an hour in a row. Every 40 minutes, stand up for two minutes, drink some water, and stretch your waist twice. Don’t lie on the sofa scrolling through your phone on weekends. Take half an hour to go out for a walk, or even go to the park with your children to play football. Moving is better than not moving. Oh, by the way, it’s best if you can quit smoking. If you can’t quit, you can smoke less. You don’t need to be anxious every day because you can’t quit. Too much psychological pressure will be bad for your health.

Let me focus on two pitfalls that should not be touched. The first one is blind patching. Internet celebrity kidney-tonifying pills, liver-protecting tablets, men's energy tablets, don't eat them without any problem. Last year, my distant relative ate the "ancestral kidney-tonifying secret recipe" bought from a live broadcast studio. After half a month of taking it, his blood pressure soared to 160. When he went to the hospital emergency room for a checkup, he found out that it contained illegal western medicine ingredients. The gain outweighed the loss. If you really feel unwell, go to a regular hospital. If you want to seek treatment from a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, go to a public traditional Chinese medicine hospital to register. Don’t blindly search for a diagnosis for yourself, let alone believe in the secret recipes of old folk traditional Chinese medicine doctors.

The second pitfall is to carry it hard. Many men are seriously injured and can't get out of the firing line. They suffer from stomachaches and backaches, and they don't go to the hospital until they urinate blood. Many serious illnesses are caused by them. Don’t worry about regular physical examinations every year after the age of 35. Pay close attention to prostate-specific antigen, liver function, blood lipids, and uric acid. Don’t think that it doesn’t matter if you are young. There are a lot of people around me who are in their early 30s who suffer from gout and hyperlipidemia. They were all dragged out.

As for supplements such as vitamins and protein powder, if you usually eat takeout every day and don’t eat enough vegetables, meat and eggs, it’s okay to eat some. If you can eat enough fresh ingredients every time, you don’t have to waste money on them. These things are not strictly necessary, and you don’t need to listen to what others say is good.

To put it bluntly, keeping in good health is not about shackles on yourself. You don’t have to hold a comparison chart every day to see what you can’t eat and what you can’t touch. If you like to drink a few sips, it’s okay to drink less. If you like meat, don’t eat fatty meat and seafood every meal. Habits that are comfortable for you and can be adhered to for a long time are more effective than any standard. If you really feel uncomfortable, don't force yourself to do anything, don't search blindly, go to a regular hospital to check, it's better than anything else.