Prostate health education content

Most prostate problems are caused by lifestyle habits. After the age of 30, as long as you do the three things of "don't hold it in for too long, don't get cold, and be less stimulated", you can avoid more than 80% of non-pathological prostate risks, and you don't need to buy supplements or be overly anxious.

Last week, a 28-year-old programmer from a game company was admitted to the outpatient clinic. He worked hard for 3 days in a hurry to launch the version. He was afraid to go to the bathroom and held it in several times during meetings. When he got off work, he had frequent urination and pain that made him unable to stand up straight. He was diagnosed with acute prostatitis and it took him 3 days to recover. 90% of the patients with prostate problems I have met under the age of 35 have this kind of situation - sitting for more than 8 hours, holding in urine, staying up late, eating spicy food and drinking energy drinks when rushing for projects, which is equivalent to pressing the prostate to the ground and rubbing it. It would be strange if it doesn't get angry.

Many people have a misunderstanding that prostate problems are a disease only suffered by old men. In fact, 30% of outpatient chronic prostatitis patients under the age of 30 are now, and most of them are Internet practitioners, drivers, civil servants and other people who need to sit for long periods of time. Oh, by the way, there is another question that everyone asks a lot: Will sex affect the prostate? In fact, academic circles and traditional Chinese medicine circles have always had different views here. Western medicine generally believes that regular ejaculation helps to clear the prostate gland ducts, which is beneficial to health; some schools of traditional Chinese medicine believe that excessive indulgence will damage the kidney qi and increase the burden on the prostate. In fact, there is no need to argue about right or wrong. You just need to remember: no matter how frequent it is, if there is no discomfort like swollen perineum or soreness in the waist after finishing, it is the rhythm that suits you. On the contrary, if you hold back ejaculation for a long time or masturbate frequently until your body becomes weak, you will really have problems.

There is another controversial point: Should I avoid spicy food and alcohol completely if my prostate is not good? I have encountered two extremes. One is a mild inflammation, and I have to pick out even the peppercorns in the vegetables. After half a year, the inflammation has not improved, but the anxiety symptoms are getting worse every day. The other is an obvious calcification, and I drink a lot of wine and eat hot pot every day. I came to the hospital because of the pain and sweating. In fact, the correct approach completely varies from person to person: If you are in the period of inflammation, eating a little spicy food and drinking a little wine will aggravate the bloating, then you must strictly avoid food; if you usually have no symptoms, and occasionally have a dinner with friends for a hot pot and two beers, there is no need to feel any psychological burden. To be honest, excessive anxiety has a much greater negative impact on the prostate than a mouthful of red oil hot pot.

A patient once asked me whether it is better to take a sitz bath or run for prostate care. In fact, there is no need to worry: if you already have obvious perineal swelling and discomfort, sitz bathing in warm water at about 40 degrees for 10 minutes can indeed quickly relieve symptoms. However, men who are preparing for pregnancy should definitely not use it. Local high temperature will kill sperm and affect the efficiency of pregnancy preparation. If you don’t feel any discomfort, just choose an exercise that you can persist in. Taking 10 minutes a day to do a few sets of Kegel exercises, or getting up and walking for 2 minutes after sitting for an hour is much more effective than trying to choose the "optimal maintenance method".

Oh, yes, don’t believe the lycopene supplements sold online for hundreds of dollars per bottle. Existing studies have indeed proven that lycopene has a certain protective effect on the prostate. But if you eat one fried ripe tomato every day, you will consume more active ingredients than if you take three supplements. There is no need to pay this IQ tax.

Finally, I would like to remind men over the age of 50 not to just look at home remedies. They must go to a regular hospital for a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test every year. This is currently the most effective way to screen for prostate cancer early. Last year, there was a 62-year-old man who had never been to the hospital in his life. He thought there was nothing wrong with him because he could eat and drink. However, he came to check because his back pain was so bad that he could not stand up. He found out that it was bone metastasis from prostate cancer. If it had been screened three to five years earlier, it could have been controlled through surgery, and he would not have suffered this problem at all.

To put it bluntly, the prostate is like a small valve in your body. If you don’t press it every day, don’t feed it irritating things, and don’t hold it in when it needs to be discharged, it will generally not cause problems. If you really have frequent urination, urgent urination, perineal swelling, or difficulty in urination, go directly to the urology department of a regular hospital to register for a checkup. Don't randomly search for marketing articles on the Internet to find out what you are doing. Almost 20% of the patients in my outpatient clinic have "symptoms" that are frightened by themselves. It is nothing at first, but the more I search, the more I feel that I have a serious illness.