Facing Your Fifties: Every Man's Reference Guide to Mid-Life Health [Paperback]

Gordon Ehlers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

This comprehensive guide will speak directly to fifty-something men about every major and many minor health issues that they are facing, with information on illness, treatments, prevention, drugs, exercise, mental health, hormones, and more, so they understand these changes and know what preventative maintenance they can do to insure a long, healthy life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This compendium of medical information is addressed to men in their 50s, but much of the advice could apply to other adult males. With the assistance of journalist Miller, Ehlers, a practicing physician and faculty member at the Swedish Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Colorado, covers almost every aspect of physical and mental health. There are separate sections on cardiovascular and respiratory disease, digestive problems, cancer and the musculoskeletal system. Included also is a chapter on how to deal with stress and depression. Perhaps of particular interest to aging males is a lengthy discussion of sexual issues that arise in middle age, such as a decreased sex drive owing to hormonal changes. Ehlers offers advice for dealing with the physical changes and emotional problems that may result, and suggests ways to continue to have a satisfactory sex life. In fact, all of the medical information presented here is clearly written and practical. Ehlers is explicit about the dangers of smoking and also gives useful advice about what kinds of medical tests one might want to request. He details ways to improve health through exercise, diet and lifestyle choices. Although the topics covered are widely available in other home health books, 50-something men looking for a more age-targeted reference book will welcome this addition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

These two titles join the growing body of literature on men's health, but each approaches the subject from a very different perspective. Ehlers, a physician who specializes in adult and geriatric medicine, and freelance writer Miller focus on leading a fulfilling life by staying healthy; theirs is a traditional health reference stressing that "it's important to know when you need professional help and when you don't." While they emphasize ailments that men in their 50s may face, they provide a full home health reference in clear, up-to-date language with many convenient, informative tables. Overall, this is a good health guide for men that will answer common complaints and assist in determining whether to seek professional advice. Diamond (Male Menopause) offers an eight-week program to help men over 40 reclaim their passion, power, and purpose to live a fuller and more rewarding life. Essentially, he takes a New Age approach, with chapters on physical and emotional well-being; food; intimate and other partnerships; stress management, irritability, and anger; mind-altering substances; and spiritual life. Less scientifically rigorous and hence of limited value, The Whole Man Program is an optional purchase. Facing Your Fifties is recommended for consumer health collections. James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: M.Evans & Company (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871319543
• ISBN-13: 978-0871319548
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wealth of Information!, September 28, 2002

By 

Carol Zerboni (Norman, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing Your Fifties: Every Man's Reference Guide to Mid-Life Health (Paperback)

This book is fantastic!It is full of information that is really helpful to wives, who have husbands that do not like to talk about their health! It covers a broad range of topics from heart disease, blood pressure,prostate,sexual issues and male menopause! My husband has started reading it now and is learning all kinds of useful information! This was a lucky find! Very well written!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What took so long?, April 25, 2002

By 

Richard W. Frazier (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Facing Your Fifties: Every Man's Reference Guide to Mid-Life Health (Paperback)

Finally, a book written for men doing just what the title says;"Facing the Fifties" written by a couple of guys who obviously don't subscribe to the "if you have fabulous abs everything must be just fine" school of health. Incredible it took this long for someone to realize with all us "boomers" out there that the need for this kind of book was huge. I like how straight forward, simple and easy this book is. No BS, just clear information and a nice sense of humor about it as well. This was clearly written by men who understand what we're up against physically and emotionally and I recommend it to anyone in the neighborhood of their fifties.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An all in one handy medical reference guide!, March 11, 2005

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Facing Your Fifties: Every Man's Reference Guide to Mid-Life Health (Paperback)

As unbelievable as it may sound, I'm in my fifties--and still doing well (at least in my opinion) . . . yet that said, I sometimes find myself with questions about my health and in need of answers, I seek them out via the Internet, friends, doctors, etc.

So I was delighted to come across FACING YOUR FIFTIES by Dr. Gordon Ehlers and Jeff Miller . . . it is much of the information that I've been seeking--all in one handy reference
guide that is written with a minimum of medical jargon.

I recommend it not only for any guy in the 40-60 age range, in addition to their wives or significant others . . . you'll of course find information on cancer and heart disease, in addition to some unexpected though most helpful advice on how to pick shoes . . . I particularly liked these two suggestions:

* Try on shoes at the end of the day, when your feet are
the largest; and

* Uncomfortable shoes in the store will stay that way, even
with "breaking in."

There were many other useful tidbits; among them:

For prevention, two good examples of stacking the odds in your favor are: (1) taking eighty-one milligrams of aspirin (a "baby" aspirin) daily; and (2) taking 400 IU (international units) of vitamin E daily. How likely is it that taking aspirin will cause a problem for most people? Not very. How likely is it that taking vitamin E will cause a problem for anyone? Not likely. But both help to significantly reduce the risk of a fifties male suffering a heart attack or stroke. In these two cases, the benefits far outweigh the effort and affects of taking the pills.

If the alarm clock is waking you from a deep sleep, and you're overly tired in the early afternoon, and you can't shake that midday fatigue, then you need to adjust your schedule to create a better sleep pattern. Working in fifteen or twenty-minute increments, start by giving
yourself one more increment of sleep. Try it for a week or so. If this doesn't create the desired results, add another increment and then another until you find the optimum amount of sleep you need. Once you determine that, you can easily figure out when you need to go
to bed to obtain that amount of sleep-and still get to work on time.

Finally, one last piece of advice--maybe the best piece of advice in this entire book. Once you've had a physical assessment, once you've taken the preventive exams and tests, once you've implemented a sound, life-long program of good eating, exercise, and periodic physician visits, then remember: Don't obsess about your health Simply live your life to the fullest.