Book Review: Blokes Health by Dr Bernie Crimmins

Rating:

Blokes’ Health is written by Dr. Bernie Crimmins who has been a General Practitioner for 27 years and features cartoons by published illustrator and cartoonist Paul Harvey.
Some of you may ask why a men’s health book is being featured in an online women’s magazine? But it is often women who are the driving force behind getting stubborn men to see the doctor for a check up.

In general, women are living healthier lifestyles and are taking better care of their health than men.  Blokes’ Health aims to help men improve their health and raise awareness of the risks that many so are facing.  Men are far less likely to seek medical attention and tend to downplay symptoms.

Women have lobbied to spread greater awareness of health issues such as cervical cancer and breast cancer.  However, such awareness is unfortunately lacking for men’s health issues such as prostate and testicular cancers.

The book is formatted to be informative while still being easy to understand.  It mixes humour aided by the cartoons with solid information. An example of this is seen early in the book with terms like FOP injuries or ‘fell over pissed’. The book is also a reasonable length so you won’t feel like you’re enduring a medical text book.

Many men die from preventable health problems merely because of pride and complacency. Things that would otherwise be treatable are being left for too long or ignored completely until it’s too late.  This book intends to turn this trend around, promoting regular checkups and positive lifestyle changes that can reduce the risk of premature death by up to 55%. This can be done by addressing just 4 common conditions and down to 3 when you remove smoking from the equation.

Blokes’ Health arms men with the knowledge to help prevent health problems and to recognize the warning signs when health problems occur. Early intervention can mean the difference between life and death. Dr. Bernie Crimmins says he has seen too many men die before their time.  The book is dedicated to two of the closest among them. His brother Hawthorn Captain Peter Crimmins who died of testicular cancer at age 28 and his father Bryan who had outlived his own son.

Hopefully this book will inspire positive change in the way men think about their health and take care of themselves and those closest to them.