From the CEO’s Desk: Men’s Health Week 2023

Like almost every man I know, I am a failed sportsman – only ‘retiring’ a few short years ago. Throughout my 20’s I thought the washing machine was slowly shrinking my clothes and the only white hair on me, was from my dog! Hang on a minute…now I’m 47, how did that happen? Sadly, I last ran in an actual race about 30 years ago! The washing machine was fine, the drinking and eating out weren’t. Meanwhile, my dog Regis died 10+ years ago…so those white hairs are definitely mine.

The saying old habits die hard, is wrong. The old ones are overtaken all too easily by newer, worse habits. The trick is to fight back with positive habits – it’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding and might just save your life.

Ignore the stats at your peril; Mental Health (up to 25% of Australian males are diagnosed with a mental health disorder in their lifetime), Cancer (nearly 90,000 Australian males were diagnosed with cancer in 2022), Obesity (33% of Australian males are obese), Addiction (Australian males are more likely to use illicit substances than females)…they all happen to other guys, right? Wrong – they happen to you!

I spent 20 years as a member of various gyms, attending on average once a fortnight (at best), going for the occasional run (okay okay, jog!) and eating a very healthy diet, other than the occasional takeaway, lunch out, dinner out, beer (or 10) and glass (AKA bottle) of wine. Throw family commitments and a demanding job into the mix, and decent sleep was nothing but a distant memory.

Even with all that, I still considered myself a ‘runner’ and thought I was fairly fit. Excuses had become my habits; habits that were slowly but surely killing me.

Luckily for me, my wife decided it was time for her to get fit – ha! She hated the gym, hated running and had never been into fitness. Maybe she would get close to my natural fitness levels, and we’d be able to go for a run together.

She joined a gym, started doing a class a day, then two, then going on her own too – I clearly needed to check this place out! Naturally they got me next, with one class becoming two…and before we knew it, we were part of this little gym community (they called it a Tribe). For three years we would get up at 4:30am every morning and kick-start our day with a HIIT class. Without knowing it, this routine of exercising every day crept up on us and became our new positive habit. Other positives flowed on from there – we drank less alcohol because we had to get up early, we ate better because we needed to recover quicker, and we got more (and better) sleep.  

My wife is now 30kgs lighter and I am no longer the fittest in our house – but we did share a run across Sydney Harbour Bridge on a recent trip, something that would have never been up for consideration before. We’ve even had a positive impact on our teenage daughter, who also goes to the gym every day now – although not the same one as us of course, that would be SO uncool!

So, to my fellow blokes – which old habit/s would you like to get back, or even form? Start by taking back just one healthy habit this Men’s Health Week…you will not regret it, I promise. Exercise is medicine, after all.