The manly thing to do is have a check-up

Can I just note here that healthy doesn't mean grunting away on a pec deck and occasionally slapping on some high-tech-packaged moisturiser. That's vanity.

Men are bad at seeing a doctor when they feel ill and good at ignoring problems — illness is weakness — and it would never do to admit to being weak.

In fact, research shows that women are much more likely than men to seek preventative health care.

Women realise from a young age that it's OK to talk about their bodies; starting with periods, right up to menopause and HRT.

Whereas many men present themselves to their GP for the first time when they hit 50 because their prostate is starting to play up.

And having to talk to another bloke about their undercarriage is mortifying.

It's unfortunate for men that so often the bits that seem to go wrong first are the really embarrassing ones: testicles and lumps thereon, prostates, erection probs, man boobs.

Our smugness at not having to go through the hell of "women's problems" is now making us look foolish as we die at higher rates than women from the top 10 causes of death.

Many male cancers and diseases are treatable but only if caught early enough.

To do that men must start to recognise and respond to health warnings.

I hope Men's Health Week will encourage men to take as much pride in a GP check-up as they do in their grooming.

Got a headache? Go to the dentist

I've had an epiphany this week following years of headaches, neck pain and shoulder stiffness.

In true male fashion (and being a doctor makes it worse) I ignored it, putting it down to my generally hectic lifestyle, with a punishing gym schedule squeezed in.

Then I went to the dentist. I hate dentists and, like most people, fear their scratchy whizzy tools.

But this was a dentist I had seen in action. He is James Russell, who has the dental spot on my show Embarrassing Bodies.

I was grumbling away to him about my symptoms when he said "sounds like a dental problem to me".

One week, and the arrival of a very small teeth-shaped piece of plastic later, and I am pain free. I also feel rested and less stressed. The problem? I'm a grinder.

Apparently, during sleep and quite unknown to me, I spend most of the night grinding my teeth together until my jaw and neck muscles ache with the exertion.

All that is needed to help reduce this is some careful dental work and a mouth guard.

In these stressful times, this simple intervention may bring relief.

The next patient I get with headaches I'm sending straight to the dentist.