Ask most men when they last had a routine health check and the answer tends to follow a familiar pattern. Either it was years ago, or it happened because something was already wrong, or there is genuinely no clear answer at all. The idea of going in proactively, without a specific symptom to justify it, still does not come naturally to most.
This is not a fringe observation. It is one of the most consistent patterns we see in preventive health screening.
The art of explaining it away
Men are remarkably good at rationalising what their bodies are trying to tell them. Fatigue becomes “I haven’t been sleeping well.” Breathlessness on a flight of stairs becomes “I need to get back to the gym.” Persistent acidity becomes “too much coffee.” None of these explanations are entirely wrong, which is partly what makes them so effective at keeping men away from a screening centre for years at a stretch.
There is also a particular logic at play here, one that sounds sensible on the surface. If nothing is visibly wrong, why bother? Getting checked, for many men, implies that something is already the matter. And if they feel fine, the conclusion is that they are fine.
This gets the entire premise of preventive health backwards, but it is a belief that is difficult to shift without people seeing the evidence for themselves.
Silent by design
The conditions we screen for most frequently are exactly the kind that do not give early warning signs. Type 2 diabetes can take years to become symptomatic. Fatty liver disease rarely causes discomfort until it has progressed significantly. Elevated cholesterol is entirely silent. Early hypertension, in a large number of cases, produces no noticeable symptoms at all. These are not rare or edge conditions. They are among the most common findings we see, and they are being detected at progressively younger ages.
A pattern that has shifted
In the past five to six years, the average age of individuals coming in with these findings has dropped noticeably. Non-alcoholic fatty liver in men in their early thirties is no longer unusual. Prediabetes in men in their late twenties. Lipid abnormalities are found in men who exercise regularly and eat reasonably well. The lifestyle and metabolic pressures on this generation have changed considerably, but the assumption that these are problems for later in life has not kept pace with that shift.
What a basic screening actually tells you
A preventive health panel does not take long. Blood pressure, fasting glucose, a lipid profile, liver enzymes, kidney function markers, and a body composition assessment together give a clear picture of where someone stands metabolically. That picture is something no amount of feeling healthy can replicate. We have had clients at our centre who completed a half-marathon two weeks before a screening and came back with a fasting glucose of 118.
They felt strong. The number told a different story.
The barrier that is harder to talk about
For a lot of men, especially in the 35 to 55 age group, going in for a health check when nothing is acutely wrong still carries an association with anxiety or overreaction. The instinct is to hold out, to manage on your own, to not make a fuss. That instinct is not entirely without basis in how many men are brought up to think about illness and help-seeking. But it costs people years of healthy life, and in some cases considerably more than that.
The question worth asking
Feeling healthy and being healthy are not always the same thing. When did you last have a basic health check-up done? Not an elaborate investigation, not something that requires a referral. A standard set of tests that takes a morning and gives you information you simply cannot get any other way. If the answer is more than a year ago, or if there is no clear answer at all, that is signal enough.
The men who come in regularly for check-ups tend to carry a different kind of confidence about their health. They know their numbers. When something needs attention, it gets caught at a point where the correction is relatively straightforward. They are not meeting a health professional for the first time in the middle of a crisis.
Waiting to feel unwell before checking your health is like waiting for the fuel light before looking at the gauge. By the time something makes itself felt, it has usually been there for a while. A yearly screening is a small investment. For most of the conditions we are talking about, it is also the best chance at keeping the problem manageable.
(The author is the medical lead at NURA – AI Health Screening Centre)
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
