Tennessee Voices, Episode 296: Sal Giorgianni and Mike Leventhal, Men's Health Network

Men too often are dying of preventable diseases in America. Cancer, heart disease and suicide are among the causes.

Inattention to both their mental and physical health has led to these outcomes for males.

On this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, Dr. Sal Giorgianni, senior medical adviser for the Men's Health Network, and Mike Leventhal, executive director of Men's Health Network-Tennessee, spoke about their work.

Sal Giorgianni and Mike Leventhal
Sal Giorgianni and Mike Leventhal

They discussed some of the cultural and societal factors that affect men from taking care of their health such as a "shake it off" mentality to not regularly visiting a medical professional for an annual checkup, which could prevent serious illness.

In Tennessee, women outlive men by nearly seven years and the mortality rate from prostate cancer is 10% above the national average, according to the Network's statistics.

We also discussed the impact of substance abuse, mental illness and body image issues caused by expectations set on social media.

Men’s Health Month is celebrated in June, but these are issues that must be addressed year-round.

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About Tennessee Voices

The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.

Please email your ideas for future guests to me at dplazas@tennessean.com. Thank you for watching.

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Watch past episodes: Tennessee Voices videocast

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas. 

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Voices: Men's health with Sal Giorgianni and MIke Leventhal