From NBC News, this is Today.

My eyes have seen you.

We're back on this Thirstday with Today's Health and a checklist for making sure the love of your life lives a long and healthy life.

Yeah. In fact, the Woman's Day magazine came up with a guide to men's health from their 30s through their 60s and beyond to give a sense of what your man might be facing in the years ahead.

Amy Brightfield is a favorite guest of ours. She is the magazine's health editor. Hey, how are doing?


It's always nice to have you back. This is important 'cause I think guys especially guys in their 30s probably aren't thinking about health, are they, when you start that early.

No. they're not, but this is the decade where you need to get a baseline. You need to know your stats on where you stand on heart disease, screenings, blood pressure. Take your blood pressure checked every year, diabetes, thyroid function, and also testicular cancer. Younger men 18 to 35 are high risk for testicular cancers.

Why is that?

It's just-- It's just hits men and I think it must have to do with hormones and it hits them that they are at much high risk. But if it's caught early, it's completely curable, so we have to do a monthly check much like women have to do our monthly breast checks.

A month check.


Yes, for lumps.

Boy. Wow!

Oh, they're-- the check themselves.

Yes, they check themselves.

I was going to say I don't know anybody that's gonna go every month.

No. But, you know what, it is hard to get men--some men


to the doctors.


They don't wanna go. They say, "I'm fine, I'm not gonna bother." What's a good way to sort of try to get them moving?

Now this is near and dear to my heart because my husband hates the doctor.


One thing is you can make it a date so you both can schedule your appointments on the same day and go and then go out to dinner afterwards 'cause who couldn't use a little more together time?


Also, I love this one, tell them to think of their body like a car because guys are so good at taking

Yeah, they're obsessed with their cars.

So boy, do they take care of their cars.

like they got to keep checking it


or it's not gonna run, it's gonna break down. You wanna extend the life.

You know, years ago, my father would not go and get a colonoscopy and-- and either would Regis, and so I said to them on the air. I said, "If I go and get one it was before I needed to and-- and will you guys go and do it?"


Did they?



They still didn't. I know.

No, they didn't. Well, so that's why--so the 30s they need their baseline stuff, then in the 40s they need to start going every year to the doctor because this is when you catch things early.

Well, the 40s--

For a general checkup.

For 40s. For a general checkup.

Well, the 40s are when you start to get the spare tire.


That's when that begins to happen, doesn't it? So you wanna watch out for that. Keep up the exercise. You wanna curb, help him curb drinking. And this is also a time where he's probably more stressed out, he's kind of going up like business career and he might have lost some touch with some of his college friends, so you wanna make sure that you commit to your date night, keep that.

Uh huh.

And help him stay social with his friends. Allow him that, you know, offer to watch the kids or watch the kids.

So he can have a guys' night out, but he can't drink too much when he goes.

Yeah. Exactly. Because your body's not gonna recover from that. I see that.

Because you don't bounce back the same way.

No, not your 40s.

Not boy, do I know. Yeah.

Now the-- the 50s. That's an important year. That's really one of those transitional years where guys really have to get serious about their health, right?

Right. The 50s is when you start getting a colonoscopy. Oh, one thing I wanted to also mention for the 40s is the PSA test. You wanna talk to your doctor about getting for prostate cancer,

For prostate cancer.

a PSA baseline in the 40s.


So for the 50s, it's really when you step up your healthy habits. You start going to the-- you keep going to the doctor every year.

Uh huh.

You want to watch out for any irregular symptoms like if he feels more tired or if he has some bad indigestion. This is the decade when signs of heart disease can become more prominent and show up.

Uh huh.

So you wanna be really on top of anything-- help him be on top of anything that doesn't feel normal for him.

Can I ask you about the 80s?

We haven't even gotten to the 60s yet.


We're not done yet!

We're still in the--

I'm just getting very nervous.

We're still at the 60s. So--

I know!

So colonoscopies in the 50s.


Any other big tests they should be getting?

Keep up the annual heart screenings.


It's maintenance at this point, isn't it?

It's maintenance, but you wanna make sure this is the decade where you don't wanna skip the annual because this is when they catch things like heart disease and diabetes and any thyroid or--

Men don't have the same bone density problems usually, do they? They don't take a bone density test like we do as women?

No, they don't. They haven't recommended

But they do need vitamin D. You're talking about in their 60s, right?

Right. So older people are at higher risk for vitamin D deficiency because they don't get out more as much and sun is the way your body makes vitamin D. So they wanna talk to their doctor about getting their vitamin D levels checked and talk to them about taking a supplement because lack-- low vitamin D levels are linked to a higher risk of just about everything. It's kind of--



They're discovering more and more how important that is, aren't they?


Okay, and what about the 80s? That's what she wants to know.

Stay social.

Yeah. Well, you-- I mean, that's the main message for 60s and beyond.

Yeah, that's a good point.

It's really-- keep up your annual checkups, keep the conversation open with your doctor, you wanna keep talking to them about also your family history because if you have a family history of certain diseases, a doctor might wanna screen you earlier or more aggressively

Uh huh.

and so stay social; studies show that people who stay social and connected really--

To other people.

It lowers their risk of everything.

I'm just very blessed that Frank's in such unbelievable.

No, he's amazing.

I mean, he's always been the most proactive man about his health. He goes every week to somebody.

And keep up the exercise.

And he does, yeah.

Yes, he works out every day.

He works out every single day.


And it's never too late to start exercising.



A lot of people think, "Oh, my gosh, I'm like 50 or I've never-- I haven't kept up anything," but

It's over.



it's never too late.

All right.

Thanks, Amy.

Thanks, Amy. Thank you. Thank you.

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