Obesity
Being overweight puts your health at risk since it contributes to the development of many problems that include:
heart disease
high blood pressure
arthritis
diabetes
indigestion
gallstones
some cancers (for example, breast, colon)
snoring and sleep apnoea
stress, anxiety and depression

It's an equation of balance - if you eat more calories than you use in daily activity, the spare energy is stored as fat and weight increases. It's as simple as that.
Nowadays the average diet contains too many calories in the form of sugar and fat, and as a nation we've become more inactive. For example, many men spend their time sitting and watching sport when in the past they would have been actively taking part.
Jobs have become more sedentary too, with many men now sitting in front of a computer whereas in the past jobs would have been more physically demanding.

Male menopause II
Common complaints as men reach middle age are poor sex drive, tiredness and fatigue, acknowledgement of ageing, hair loss and changes in body shape as they become less muscular and more rounded.
Other symptoms include irritability, sweating, flushing, generalised aches and pains, and low mood, sometimes depression.
Looking at these symptoms, it's easy to see why a comparison is made with the female menopause. Women may experience any or all of these symptoms.
Many doctors acknowledge that a genuine change for men occurs, but believe it has a psychological basis rather than a hormonal one. The realisation that they've left youth behind is reinforced by the signs of wrinkles, receding hairline and fat.
Many men may have progressed as far as they ever will in their careers and this may be hard to accept. As their children grow up and leave home, many will question whether they now have a role to play.
Marital disharmony, job dissatisfaction, financial problems or alcohol misuse are some of the other reasons that may be behind the way a man is feeling.

Male menopause
In middle age many men seem to go through something that's been labelled the mid-life crisis. More recently this cluster of distressing physical and emotional symptoms has been likened to the female menopause - but does the male menopause exist?
Strictly speaking men can't have a menopause as such, since the definition of the menopause is the time at which periods cease. However, it's argued that they can go through a male equivalent, called the andropause, that's accompanied by symptoms similar to those experienced by women.
It's claimed that the andropause is hormone-related, just like the female menopause. However, the female menopause is triggered by a dramatic fall in the levels of female hormones, whereas the levels of the male hormone testosterone fall far more gradually over many years. Many 70-year-old men have similar testosterone levels to those of a 20-year-old.

Symptoms of andropause:
poor sex drive
tiredness and fatigue
change in body shape
reduced muscle mass
irritability
sweating
flushing
generalised aches and pains
low mood