From the Desk of Dr. Villalobos:

It’s easy to say that the man in your life should probably be going to the doctor more, but it’s another thing to get him to do it. Here are a few tips for getting even the most stalwart in for a checkup:

Express your concern. This might seem simple, but sometimes just letting a man know you’re con- cerned about his health can give him a reason to go to the doctor. Letting the man in your life know you’re worried about his prostate cancer risk might get him thinking he should be, too.

Give him different reasons. Some- times it can be tough to get some- one to see the light, especially when the person you’re worried about might not think there’s a problem. Don’t be deterred. Try a different tack if others haven’t worked. For example, if doing it “for your health” isn’t enough, try sug- gesting he see someone just to confirm he really does know what’s going on with his body. You could even mention that an annual doc- tor’s visit has the bonus of getting a little bit of time away from work.

Tell him to do some research. If a man is adamant there’s nothing wrong, ask him to do some search- ing around on the web first. This is especially useful for mental illness, which can be very isolating. Finding out other people are getting help for going through some- thing similar normalizes seeking medi- cal attention.