June is coming to an end, but before Father’s Day and Men’s Health Week have slipped to the back of your mind, I’d like to summarize by encouraging you to create a Men’s Health Scorecard either for yourself (for the guys out there reading this) or for the important men in your life (for the gals out there reading this). When it comes to men’s health there are three super important changes you can make to dramatically improve your health. While some of these changes won’t happen overnight, they can certainly add years to your life.

So write it down on paper and review and grade yourself or your loved one on these three categories at least once a quarter until you make some notable progress.

Get Active, Stay Active

It’s hard to overstate the benefits of even minimal amounts of exercise. A study done in Copenhagen just last month revealed that as little as an hour to two-and-a-half hours of jogging per week (that’s right, per week!) was linked to substantial improvements in life expectancy: men who jogged every week lived 6.2 years longer on average than those who did not.

Better still, you don’t have to get this exercise all in one shot to get the benefit. Even something as simple as stretching at work can get your muscles working and your blood flowing.

Eat Better

No surprises here. Eliminate trans fats and processed foods and cut WAY back on sugar consumption. Get your sugar from fruit and swap out baked goods and flour-based products in favor of whole grains. Substitute low-fat dairy for full fat and add in lots of veggies for vital nutrients including calcium and lycopene (from tomatoes), which has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer. Always ask yourself “does this food nourish me and my body or does it have an adverse impact?” This question will help you stay focused on eating the right foods.

Not ready for a radical change? Start small. Eliminate one ingredient or food type completely (i.e. processed sugar or trans fatty acids). Oftentimes, doing just that forces you to give up unhealthy foods that not coincidentally, also contain other harmful ingredients. Opt for veggies instead of fries when you eat out, or reach for a glass of water instead of a can of soda. Have a cup of herbal tea instead of a second or third cup of Joe. Small consistent changes eventually lead to big results!

Stop Smoking

According to the Center for Disease Control, smoking is responsible for one in every five deaths. It increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 4 times for men, and increases the likelihood of a man developing lung cancer by 23 times. And yet, a higher percentage of men still smoke compared to women.

If you need more motivation to quit smoking, consider the danger that your smoking poses to other people, especially young children. Second-hand smoke is one of the leading causes of new cases of asthma in children, especially those under six years old. For children that already have asthma, second-hand smoke can make the symptoms more severe, resulting in increased cost of medication and lost school time and lost work when the parent must get the child medical help.

If you’re struggling to kick the habit, there are a wealth of programs out there that can give you support you need to change your life. This site is a great online resource, and you can also try to find  help in person through groups like Nicotine Anonymous.

Whether out at the bar with buddies, tailgating before a big sporting event, or kicking back a few after a long hard day at work, alcohol seems to be prevalent in multiple contexts of men’s lives. But alcohol can do more than turn your next party into a smashing success. It can save your life if consumed in proper quantities.

A recent study that concluded earlier this year found that men who drank three ounces of alcohol per day were 17% less likely to have a stroke compared to those who abstained, while men who drank six ounces a day were 21% less likely to have a stroke. That’s not an endorsement for consuming larger quantities of booze because as we all know excess consumption can lead to other serious health problems.

But it is interesting to note the reason alcohol helps reduce the risk of stroke. According to Dr. Monik Jimenez, one of the study’s lead researchers, alcohol has special properties that “prevent blood clots and promote HDL (good) cholesterol.” Nevertheless, Dr. Jimenez stresses the importance of moderation when it comes to drinking.

The study found that there were no further benefits to health after the first drink, and that drinking in high volumes can increase your likelihood of having a stroke by leading to high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation –two more reasons not to overdo it.

The best alcohol to drink when it comes to stroke prevention is red wine. This alcohol is famous for its heart benefits, thanks in part to its antioxidant content in the form of resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown to prevent damage to blood vessels, prevent blood clots, and reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Besides bringing wellness to your cardiovascular system, drinking red wine can be a benefit to your health in a number of other ways. Research has linked red wine consumption with a lowered risk of Alzheimer’s disease and death from cancer. Red wine has also been proven to reduce the impact of smoking on blood vessels and to reduce post-meal blood pressure in people with hypertension. So substitute a glass of red wine for your usual beverage of choice and start reaping some of those benefits today!

Men like to pretend that they’re invincible, but they’re not. Even though they are styled as the stronger of the two sexes, men are ironically, much more vulnerable than women when it comes to their health and taking care of their bodies. This is borne out by the statistics: men die at higher rates than women do for the top 10 causes of death, and on average, women outlive men by more than five years. Contrary to what one might believe, the difference between men’s and women’s health isn’t gender-based so much as lifestyle based and stems from poor health care monitoring early in life.

So besides visiting the doctor regularly (at least once a year), what can a man do to stave off the leading causes of death? Here’s a quick look at the top 3 critical health challenges men face today and what can be done to prevent them.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both American men and women. According to the Center for Disease Control, one-in-four men has some form of heart disease. Nearly twice as many males die from cardiovascular conditions as females, and the complications from heart disease (such as a heart attack) typically occur ten years earlier in men than in women. Early detection and appropriate lifestyle changes are key to addressing this problem.

Stroke

A stroke is similar to a heart attack, but is caused by a blood clot in the most vital human organ: the brain. Though the American Stroke Association states that there is effectively no difference in susceptibility between the sexes, as people get older, men experience 25% more strokes than women do. Strokes may not kill as many people as cardiac disease does, but it is the leading cause of long-term disability for American men. Since high blood pressure is the most common cause of cerebral hemorrhage, a diet and fitness program designed to keep blood pressure low and coupled with stress and anger management techniques can help protect against strokes (and heart attacks!).

Suicide and Depression

Though many men are aware of their limitations, the ideal model of masculinity that society creates encourages men to ignore and hide their pain. For men, this leads to severely under-diagnosed depression, which is partly to blame for the vast difference in suicide rates between men and women: men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women. Men are more prone to suicide because they rarely openly show the signs of depression, so they fail to get the help they need before it’s too late.

Depression is often associated with sadness, but depression in men can play out in a number of different ways, including anger and aggression, increased risk-taking behavior or a midlife crisis. Of course alcohol and drug abuse can also be driven by depression. Meditation seems to be gaining credence as a valuable tool for controlling or preventing depression, and in older men, staying physically and socially active play an important role.