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This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Scot: Back in January, we talked about the Project 50 Challenge. Mitch decided he was going to take the challenge, and we're to a point now where 50 days has gone by. So we're going to find out how Mitch did.

This is the Sideshow edition of "Who Cares About Men's Health." My name is Scot Singpiel. I bring the BS to the festivities. The MD to counter my BS, Dr. Troy Madsen.

Troy: Hey, Scot. And I didn't tell you, I took on the 50 challenge too, the 50-day challenge, Project 50 Challenge, whatever we're calling it. Not to the extent that Mitch had discussed, but with some modifications.

Mitch: Oh, that's great.

Scot: And also on the show, of course, the guy we're going to be talking to about the Project 50 Challenge, Mitch.

Mitch: Hey.

Scot: I think the first thing we should do is just give a brief, 45-second summary of what this Project 50 Challenge was and why you decided you want to do it.

Mitch: So Project 50 was a challenge that was going around the internet in end of December, start of January. And it was seven habits that you committed to do for 50 straight days. And the idea was if you did these seven things, you would end up being a completely different person in 50 days and a healthier one as well.

Scot: All right. And what were the seven things? Can you summarize those?

Mitch: Yep. Seven things. One, wake up before 8 a.m. Two, create and do a morning routine. Three, exercise for one hour a day. Four, read 10 pages a day of something non-fiction. Number five, dedicate one hour towards a new skill. Six, follow a healthy diet for all 50 days. And seven, track your daily progress in a journal.

Scot: Okay. And we had an extensive conversation about each one of these things, the viability, would this be hard or easy, is this something that could happen. If you want to listen to that episode, it is the "Project 50 Challenge." It was out on January 11th. I believe it was Episode 93. So you can check that out. We'll be here when you come back and we can find out is Mitch a different person after 50 days?

Troy, can you give me a drumroll, please?

Troy: "Brr." That's the best I've got.

Scot: Mitch, are you a different person 50 days later?

Mitch: No. But I've learned a lot about myself.

Troy: Good or bad things?

Scot: I would contend you are a different person, but maybe not because of the Project 50 Challenge.

Mitch: Sure.

Scot: All right. So you started it. You were pretty gung ho. Tell us what happened.

Mitch: So I was going along, and like we talked about in the previous episode, I was finding new ways to condense these things down and really integrate as much of these habits into my daily routine as possible. While it was difficult, it was not quite as difficult as I was expecting. It's a lot to manage, but you can fit it in here or there.

But about, I'd say, three weeks into the process, I got COVID. I got extraordinarily sick for about a week and a half. And not only that, I've had some lingering fatigue symptoms afterwards. And that kind of put a kibosh on the entire effort. Not only is momentum and motivation hard to do when you're sick, I was really sick and it was really hard to get back into it. So I kind of failed at the Project 50 Challenge.

Troy: I was going to say you did it at least part of that time, didn't you, Mitch?

Mitch: Yeah, about three weeks.

Troy: Three weeks. Project 21.

Scot: Yeah. I think we should have a discussion. Is Mitch a failure? I think that should be the . . .

Troy: No.

Scot: That should be the first topic of conversation.

Troy: He did it for 21 days. When I heard about the Project 50 Challenge, I thought, "This sounds incredibly difficult." So I think just to even have done that for 21 days or whatever exactly he did is quite an accomplishment in itself.

Mitch: Yes. And I did learn a lot, I think, about myself and my approach to the kinds of things that it was trying to accomplish.

Scot: So when you started out the Project 50 Challenge, you had the energy to do it. But then when you got better again, what was it that kept you from wanting to start it again after you had recovered from COVID? Or have you really not recovered all the way from COVID?

Mitch: Well, I am dealing with some fatigue symptoms afterwards. And it's something I'm going to my doctor for, but there are days that I am still completely wiped out. Whether it's long COVID or just lingering whatever, it's taken me quite a while to get back to being able to even work out 30 minutes a day.

And so that's been my trouble. Jumping from 30 minutes of exercise a day to an hour is a big step anyway, but getting all the way down to zero and trying to get back up to one hour when you're dealing with these lingering symptoms, it's been hard.

Troy: I can imagine. Yeah. That's a big setback. But again, I'm impressed. Number one, I was impressed that you wanted to do it. When you told us about it, I thought, "Wow, that's a lot to take on." And then number two that you did it for as long as you did, and it sounds like even now you're still at least bringing some of those things back into your routine. So I think that's great.

Scot: All right. Mitch, what lessons did you learn about yourself through the Project 50 Challenge even though you didn't make it to Day 50?

Mitch: Yeah. So one of the things that I've been really trying to focus on lately with my own health in relation to all of the Core Four is to stay curious about your health, and try things out, and not be angry with yourself if they don't work for you, finding that individual approach to things.

Now, while the seven steps that they were trying to do were pretty intense, I did find a couple of things that really were helpful to me and my mental health, my physical health, and they're things that I continue to do to this day.

Scot: All right. This is like panning for gold, Troy, right now. That's what we're doing. We were panning for gold nuggets that Mitch has to offer us.

Troy: Let's see what we can find here.

Scot: Yeah. I'm looking forward to this.

Mitch: So the big thing for me that I have adopted and absolutely love, especially in these weird trying times of unprecedented event after unprecedented event is the morning routine.

Now, I also found out that I am more of a night owl than a morning person and getting up super early and working out and trying to be creative was not for me. I'm just a drag. I just drag in the morning. I'm one of those people that I need that morning cup of coffee before I can be creative. And it's not until the evening that I actually get my most work done.

But the morning routine of not using your phone for that first hour, even if I'm not journaling, even if I'm not making a master list of what to do, but just not reading the news for an hour, not seeing what emails I have or pressing projects or drama from friends or text messages or anything, just an hour to start the day all to yourself has been really life-changing in the last couple of months.

It gives me an opportunity to talk with my partner and really have a connection there. It allows me to focus on . . . start the day with a big chunk of time that is not stressful in any way, shape, or form. And I found that it has completely changed the way I feel throughout the rest of the day.

Troy: And are you doing that . . . because you mentioned before also you were rolling out of bed right before you had to start work and that kind of thing. Are you finding that you're getting up fairly early, and then you've got that hour and a nice way to ease into the day?

Mitch: Yeah. And it gives me a little time to eat breakfast and get my mind straight. And especially when you don't have all the beeps and boops and the notifications and then doom scrolling or whatever, when none of that is happening and you can just have a breakfast and you can just get ready for the day and shower, even though I'm working from home, all those basic things, it's really, really nice. It's really, really good to start the day that way.

Scot: All right. What else did you learn from the experience?

Mitch: Well, the other one was a little surprising to me, and it's one that we don't necessarily talk too much here about here on "Who Cares About Men's Health." But it was actually Rules 4 and 5. It was read 10 pages a day and dedicate an hour towards a new skill.

And while doing that every single day can be really difficult and really time-consuming, I found myself filling my day with things that I really enjoyed doing and learning.

So there was an intellectual stimulation that came from reading something that was non-fiction. I found some really cool old history books that have been giving me some new perspective on world events these days. Read a couple of self-help books. Even just 10 pages a day, you can get through some of these shorter books in a week.

And when it comes to learning a new skill, finding even half an hour to unplug from everything else and play the guitar. I downloaded Rosetta Stone and tried to learn a bit of a new language. And I'm not going to say I'm fluent in any way, shape, or form, but that intellectual stimulation is exciting and it is something that I look forward to.

And especially after so much time during COVID that got "blah" and the days ran into one another, it's been really, really enjoyable to get curious about things that relax me and things that intellectually stimulate me through the day.

Troy: So what language have you been learning?

Mitch: I've been refreshing my old German skills.

Troy: That's great. So your new skills. Because that was a part of this that really intrigued me, was this idea of spending an hour a day on a new skill, which seems amazing, but that's a lot of time.

Mitch: I've been really surprised at how much . . . I was rusty at guitar and any time I'd pick it up, I'd be like, "Ugh, I'm not good anymore," and I would feel really defeated. But just this blocking out even a half hour to just noodle or learn a couple of chords of a song or something like that, just how much enjoyment I got out of that after years of not playing, it's been really, really cool.

And then the last one that I really found surprisingly helpful and surprisingly motivating was tracking your daily progress. Now, in the past when I've tried to lose weight in the past, it's been 100% on the scale. I step on the scale every day and I'm like, "Well, crap." I'm not losing as much weight as I would like or whatever. And that can be really discouraging.

But by tracking everything from "How many reps did I do? How many was I able to do before failure? How much weight did I do exercise to exercise?" journaling my thoughts, and things that I accomplished through the day, and new ideas that came from the reading, and just seeing every day the small, incremental changes that are happening in the positive way and being able to make a habit out of acknowledging those and writing them down and being able to look back at your progress is extraordinarily meaningful for me at least. And it really helped me stay motivated.

And even though I didn't complete the full 50 days, and even though I'm not doing all seven challenges every single day, and even though I'm not riggedy ripped like some of these Instagrammers who did it for 50 days and swear that that's all they did, I know that I made some progress in those three weeks and the week sets. I'm able to look at it and say, "You know what? That did work for me," or "You know what? That didn't work for me and I have this log of why."

And in the effort to stay curious, it's really, really helpful. It's that gold panning type thing that you were talking about, Scot. It's like unless you are taking the time to really track that kind of stuff, how do you know if you're actually succeeding or not? If you're just focusing on what you look like in the mirror or just focusing on your general feeling rather than the actual things that you're doing, how do you stay motivated? So it's been great. It's been absolutely great.

Troy: See, Mitch, I feel like you did Project 50 the way that seems a little more realistic for all of us. You gave it a good shot and you had a big setback, but you're still incorporating things. It may not be every aspect of it, but I think the way you've done it is a success.

You gave it a fair shot, and you've got a lot of things that you're continuing to do, and you found value in it. And in a lot of ways, it hasn't just changed your life because you said, "Oh, I did it." It's changed your life because you're now doing some of those things and carrying those forward into your routine.

Mitch: Yeah. Thank you.

Scot: All right. Well, we've concluded that Mitch is not a failure. So that's good.

Mitch: Yes.

Troy: You're not a failure, Mitch.

Scot: Go ahead and put that in your progress journal.

Mitch: Not a failure.

Troy: Not a failure according to Scot and Troy.

Scot: All right. So was there anything else that you wanted to hit about the Project 50 Challenge before we move over to Troy?

Mitch: No. I think we hit . . . Those were the three big things that I've been doing.

Scot: All right. I love your overall attitude about just being curious. Being curious, trying some stuff out, not judging it before you try it for a few days. Who knows? It might be something that really works for you.

Troy, how did you integrate Project 50 into your life?

Troy: Scot, again, like I said, when I heard about it from Mitch, I said, "This seems like a whole lot to take on." But I also was thinking very much about, "How can I consolidate this into one hour a day?" which I wasn't successful in doing, but trying to multitask.

But again, I think some of the things I really appreciate . . . I did focus more on that morning routine. And again, social media hasn't been such a big deal for me. Scrolling on my phone, not such a big deal, but just being a little more aware of that in my morning routine has been . . . I think just became a little more focused on, "Don't get on your phone, don't read the news, have that time to yourself." And then part of that morning routine has been going out for a run with my dog, which I always enjoy.

The one piece of it that was very intimidating to me is this idea, and we talked about it originally, of spending an hour a day on a new skill. And from the start, I just said, "I am not going to do that. I just can't find the time for that." So my modification for that was very similar to Mitch's. It's so cool to hear what you did, Mitch. I used to play the piano a lot, and I really enjoyed playing the piano. And I've got a piano in my house, an electric piano that was a gift from my grandmother and my parents when I was in medical school. I used to play it all the time, and I really enjoyed it.

It just sat there, and I'll sit down here and there and play it, but I said, "You know what? I'm going to sit down every day and play at least one song. And if it's just one song, that's all I'm going to play." But then I found as I sat down, I would play a song and I'm like, "Ah, just having a good time." And I would open up a book of piano music and maybe play two or three songs or maybe more.

And that, to me, was I think the most rewarding thing to come out of this, to say, "I'm going to do it. I'm going to try to relearn a skill I had that's gotten kind of rusty." And I've just really enjoyed playing the piano every day. So I appreciate you for posing this to us and that's what I took from it.

Mitch: Oh, that's so cool because that was just it. For me, it was like the new skills were a little intimidating. I did work on a cookbook or whatever, but shifting to, "I know some of this. Let's get the rust off. I know I enjoyed this at one time. Let's try this out," it's been great. And I'm so glad to hear that you were doing it too.

Troy: Yeah, that's cool to hear you did it too, because I thought about it . . . I was going to learn breakdancing or relearn it from what I knew in my youth, but I decided I was never that good at breakdancing, but I was pretty good at the piano. So I picked it up again. It's been fun. It's been good.

Scot: I told you that I probably was not going to participate because I'm still in my graduate school. This will be my last semester and I just didn't think I'd be able to take additional things on, which I did not. However, what it did do is it did make me refocus some things that I had done before.

So I've had a morning routine for a long time and I'd gotten away from it. So I got back into my morning routine and I incorporated some physical therapy stretches in the morning.

Mitch, I'm like you. I need that cup of coffee to get going. But a lot of times if I just start my day with the stretches even before the coffee, if I do it while the water is heating up, that wakes me up. Just those gentle stretches and movements really wake me up. So I enjoy that because it makes me more alert.

And the other thing I just refocused was some basic stuff like making sure that I'm getting to bed at the time that I want to get to bed, making sure that I'm getting out of bed at the time I want to get out of bed. Not hitting the snooze.

So I didn't really add anything new, but I just refocused some stuff and it has paid dividends. So I have appreciated that. And I look forward to the chance to maybe learn a new hobby. I don't know what that would be, but anyway.

Troy: That's great. We can start to propose hobbies to you if you'd like, Scot. I was thinking magic. We talked a little bit about magic already. You could learn some magic.

Mitch: We're a drummer or a bassist away from having a band. The "Who Cares" band.

Troy: Any takers here, Scot? The "Who Cares" band.

Scot: "Who Cares About Men's Health" band. Is there anything else to talk about with the Project 50 Challenge, the recap, the conclusion?

Mitch: Well, one of the things I wanted to do is if you are stumbling upon this episode because you tried the Project 50 or you typed it in and you were like, "Oh, hey, there's someone who has tried it," maybe approach it in a way that isn't a succeed or a failure. And don't judge yourself compared to all the guys and gals who were on the internet showing all of their progress the whole time for social accolades and thumbs ups and likes and everything. Just try some things out for yourself and see what does and doesn't work.

Troy: So now, given that we've done this, does this make us influencers? I don't know.

Mitch: Yes, 100%

Troy: Cool. Putting it on my résumé.

Scot: Right now.

Troy: Right now. Internet influencer.

Scot: Well, Mitch, thank you very much for sharing your story about the Project 50 Challenge. That was fun. I enjoyed that.

If you have any comments or would like to contribute to the episode, if you did the Project 50 Challenge, would like to share your experience, you can do so. A lot of different ways you can get a hold of us, and Troy is going to fill you in as to what those are.

Troy: Yeah. You can find us on Facebook, facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth. You can email us, hello@thescoperadio.com. Website is whocaresmenshealth.com. Call our listener line, 601-55SCOPE.

We'd love to hear what you've done with the Project 50 Challenge if you've done it or if you're doing it now. And please tell us about that new skill because we're looking for recommendations for what Scot can now do. So let us know.

Scot: All right. Thanks for listening and thanks for caring about men's health.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Troy: You've got to say something like, "Troy puts the stud in studies," or something like that. Something good. I'm just kidding.

Scot: I will never say that.

Troy: I was just trying to think of something better than "Troy's articles" or whatever you called it.

Scot: That's us. It's a "Sideshow" episode. That's what we like to call a soft start. You caught us in the middle of a little prepping trying to decide what we're calling this segment, where Troy scans the medical journals so you don't have to and then shares an article that hopefully is of some interest.

Troy: Hopefully.

Scot: Yeah, this is "Who Cares About Men's Health," a "Sideshow" episode. My name is Scot. With me, as always, the MD to my BS, Dr. Troy Madsen.

Troy: Hey, Scot.

Scot: And Producer Mitch.

Mitch: Hey there.

Scot: All right, Troy. Let's take a look at your articles, hear what you've got. Go ahead and put those articles on display.

Troy: Look at the articles.

Scot: Yeah. Go ahead and put those articles out on display for us. We're going to pick one.

Troy: Oh, we're picking?

Scot: Oh, yeah. I mean, unless you just decided you had one that you . . .

Troy: I decided.

Scot: Oh, okay.

Troy: This title is so good that I knew even if I gave you my list of five, including the one on green urine that I keep trying to get you to pick, I know you'd pick this one.

Scot: All right.

Troy: And I'm just going to read it to you and if you don't like it, if you're just like, "No, we would not have picked that one," let me know and I'll pull up some other ones.

Scot: Okay.

Troy: The title of this article from the "Journal of Emergency Medicine," the title is "Battlefield Acupuncture Versus Standard Pharmacologic Treatment of Low Back Pain in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial."

Mitch: Oh, Troy, I did a bunch of interviews about this. Keep going.

Troy: Yeah. Tell me I have not piqued your interest.

Scot: So when you say battlefield, you mean like a war battlefield?

Troy: That's a good question.

Scot: Oh, okay. Well, I guess, Troy . . .

Troy: I'm hoping I piqued your interest enough that I can . . . I'll explain what battlefield acupuncture is. I didn't know before this article.

Scot: Move forward with this one. Go for it.

Troy: Okay, we got it. So battlefield acupuncture, to your question, is a technique using acupuncture. So you're familiar with acupuncture? You use these little needles in different spots. Ideally, the way this is designed, it's supposed to then relieve pain or lead to different effects.

Acupuncture, of course, is considered an alternative therapy, and it's one of those things where it has gained more mainstream acceptance as these types of studies have come out. But it's been considered a traditional therapy, an alternative therapy. It is not something I have ever done or have ever practiced. I did spend a day shadowing, spending time with an acupuncturist during med school, which was really cool, to kind of see what she did and hear her philosophy and see her approach and see the patient's response.

But battlefield acupuncture is a technique where there are certain little needles that look more like little tiny darts that are placed in specific places in either one or both ears.

The idea behind this is that these spots are said to influence the central nervous system pain response. And by putting these little needles in these different spots in the ear, they then decrease pain that is coming from other sites in the body. I mean, that's the theory. Again, I'm not a traditional practitioner, but I'm just kind of reading what I found on it.

Scot: Time out. In the ear, or in the part around the ear, or the earlobe?

Troy: In various parts. So yeah, let me clarify that. Not in the tympanic membrane. You're not going in the ear hole. These are different spots . . .

Scot: Okay.

Troy: Yeah, these are different spots on the auricle of the ear. You do not want to puncture the eardrum. These are spots . . .

If you just do a Google search for this, you can see photos of where these spots are. They're basically at the very top of the auricle of the ear, so the very top of the ear, and then kind of maybe half an inch down from there. And there's another spot half an inch down from there. There's a spot on the earlobe. There's a spot just on the very front part of the earlobe.

So they're like little tiny darts, and they actually have a tool that you use to place these. They just stay in place until they fall out. So it's usually three or four days. You put these in there, you leave them in, and you just send people home with these in place.

Scot: Wow.

Troy: Yeah, it's fascinating. Again, I have never done this. I've never been trained on this. This is the first article I've seen looking at treatment of low back pain.

And then you might ask, "Why would I even care about this? Because surely I have some great treatment for low back pain." I can tell you that when you see a patient come to the ER, the first thing you'll see is their name and a chief complaint and that's what shows up. And when the chief complaint is low back pain, that to me is one of the most frustrating things to go and see because there is so little that I can offer.

It used to be these patients would come in and everyone would just get opioids, like, "Okay, here's your script for Norco or Lortab." That's a horrible way to approach it and that's what's led to the current opioid epidemic.

So now when people come in, I say, "Well, you can try ibuprofen or Tylenol." "Well, I've already been trying that."

"Well, you could try some lidocaine, some numbing cream on there." "Well, I've tried that."

"Well, you could try physical therapy." And we actually had a physical therapy in our emergency department and did a study on it, and that was great. But that person was only there 30 hours a week and the emergency department is open 24/7, so that's not something I can offer that often.

So if there was something I could actually do and say, "There's evidence behind this and this is going to help you," and people actually did it and said, "Wow, it helped me," that would be really cool.

So this study, essentially what they did is they took patients who came into the emergency department . . . It's a fairly small study, more of a pilot study we would call it, where it's kind of like, "Hey, let's try to see if it works. If it works, let's do a bigger study."

So they only had 52 patients. Twenty-six of these were randomized either to getting this battlefield acupuncture done or to just standard treatment, which would be the stuff I talked about where it's just like, "Hey, do whatever you normally do."

The patients with the battlefield acupuncture had a significant decrease in their pain score when compared to the patients who just had standard treatment.

And they then contacted these patients two to three days after they were there and found that the patients who had the battlefield acupuncture continued to have a significant improvement in their pain scores compared to those who were sent home either with a prescription or with just standard stuff we would do for low back pain.

Of course, there were no difference in any adverse effects. It's not like these patients were getting a lot of infections, they were complaining of a lot of pain or bleeding, or anything like that.

So their conclusion was that this potentially shows some promise. I can tell you please don't come to the ER right now and ask for battlefield acupuncture, because we don't have the tools there. It is not something we're doing. But maybe a study like this and some subsequent studies, if they continue to show this works, maybe it's something we're going to learn to do. I would love to be able to offer something better than what I can realistically offer in the ER.

So kind of a cool study. A pretty simple thing, it looks like, to do. It's just something we're not doing now, but maybe we'll see more of this in the future.

Mitch: I have to chime in because I've done it.

Troy: So when you say you've done it, have you performed this on people?

Mitch: Yes, I have.

Troy: Wow. This is cool.

Mitch: Okay, so 2011, it was my old life as a documentary filmmaker. We were working on a project called "The Painful Truth," and we were traveling all over the country investigating chronic pain patients and how they are treating their different conditions and how it impacts their family. And I got to actually go to this big medical conference. And one of the rooms where they were doing a breakout session was all about battlefield acupuncture.

You go in there and up on front, there's like this cute small woman who's been studying it and she published the paper. And then there are these military guys in full uniform with all their awards and medals and everything, talking about how they were using acupuncture in the ears and the tragus and all these different parts to stop people from going into shock on the battlefield.

Troy: Wow. So that's where it got the name then. I had no idea before this.

Mitch: So I was actually able to get one of them to be interviewed with us. And when we were talking about the interview, he pulls out first an orange and he's like, "Here's the tool. I want to show you how easy it is here. Here, why don't you go ahead and put some of these little brads in." And it's like a little gun and it's just, "Pew, pew, pew." So I bedazzled an orange.

And then he's like, "Do you want to see what it feels like?" And I'm like, "Absolutely, yes, a thousand times." And so he clips my ear. I'm trying to find some photos of it right now. But he clips my ears, and I didn't feel anything because I wasn't going into shock. But I'm like, "Wow."

And then he asked if I would feel comfortable doing it with my cameraman, and I said, "For real?" And the guy was not sure, but I'm like, "Oh, come on. It'll be fun." So yeah, I got to basically bedazzle my cameraman's ear with this tool. And it was just . . .

Troy: Did they draw the spots on there for you to shoot this little gun into, or did you just see it and you're just like, "Okay, there, there, there"?

Mitch: So they had a little printout and they were like, "Here's where you're going to do it." And then when I was doing it, he took his little Sharpie and did little dots on the guy's ear to be like, "Here's where you're going to shoot it."

Troy: Make sure you hit the right spots, yeah.

Mitch: And so the big part of it is that this for them at that time was . . . This was not necessarily something that a battlefield medic would need to have special training for. They can train anyone to do it, right?

Troy: Yeah. It's sounds so simple.

Mitch: So it was really kind of cool to . . . And especially for him, the guy who was giving me the interview and everything, he was like, "These for so long have been treated as 'alternative medicine.'" Big quotation fingers there. But they're starting to find real applications. And so it's kind of exciting to hear that you also found a study about it.

Troy: Yeah, that is fascinating. Again, it's not something I've ever been trained on. And there probably are other emergency-department-based studies that have done this kind of thing, but there are not a lot. And maybe there are some others with low back pain, but this is the first time I've seen this.

I would love to be able to do this. Again, I would love to also maybe see some larger studies just saying, "Yeah, this panned out and we are seeing an improvement and this works."

Again, Mitch, like you said, it sounds super simple to do. As I've looked at pictures of it, it's like, "Okay, just hit these five spots." It's not rocket science, and you just need that tool, the same tool you had, which we don't have. But that's so cool you were doing that.

So if we can do this, I'm going to bring you in to teach us all how to do it, Mitch. Apparently, you're the expert now. You have more experience with this probably than any physician in our emergency department. So you're coming in.

Mitch: Okay. All right.

Troy: I love it.

Scot: Can we get you one of these guns on eBay?

Mitch: I don't know.

Troy: They have them on eBay?

Scot: What do they cost? What does one of these things cost?

Troy: I don't know. I've never looked into it.

Mitch: It was like a handheld staple gun. It was between a hole-punch, like one of those single handheld hold-punches. It was kind of like that plus a staple gun. It didn't feel too technical.

Troy: Yeah. We should probably clarify. Don't do this at home with a staple gun. It would be unwise and unsterile. But yeah, it seems like if you have the proper tools and a sterile device that's designed for this, it doesn't sound difficult.

Scot: Troy is a physician, right? Mitch mentioned something that resonated with me. Alternative medicines, right? There's a lot of stuff out there that people swear by. But as a physician, or at least many physicians I've talked to, until they can see some hard evidence that it actually makes a difference, they don't really accept it as a treatment. But it sounds like you would be in all the way on this because of this study?

Troy: I would like to see at least a couple more studies that replicate the results. At the same time, I don't want to just do something just to do it. It would be nice to see something that helps. I would be open to doing this if a patient . . . if I talk to them about options and I said, "Hey, there's been a small study. It seems to make a difference."

The big thing for me is, "Is there a big downside to this? Am I going to be causing harm?" And if I'm not going to be causing harm, and they did not report significant adverse effects with this, if I'm not going to be causing infections in their ear, or a lot of bleeding or things like that, and there's reasonable evidence to support it, I would offer it to a patient specifically that way. I would say, "This is something . . . there's been a small study." I'd say, "We can try it if you're interested."

Scot: And if this really did work, that sounds like it would change your life. It would make you go from seeing name and back pain to name and I can help this person. Name and back pain, going, "Oh, geez," to name and back pain and, "I have something I could probably do."

Troy: I would love to have that. If anyone asks me, "What is the most frustrating thing you deal with in the emergency department?" it is back pain, because people come there wanting answers and wanting a quick fix and it's a 15-minute discussion often of saying, "Hey, this is what you need to do. It's going to be a long process. You're going to have to do physical therapy. I'm not going to prescribe opioids for this. I do not want to do that. I do not want to create potential for addiction." And then I'll offer them the Lidocaine, things like that, and say, "Well, maybe this will help."

But yeah, to be able to just be like, "Yeah, I can try this. We can do this and there's evidence to support it," would be wonderful.

So we'll see what happens. Again, it's one of those articles where you see it like, "Oh, that's really cool." I can't say it changes my practice right now where I'm going to start doing this. Obviously, I don't have the tools to do it right now or the training. But it's one of those that maybe we're going to see more on this. It takes a while for these things to come into practice, but maybe in five years, this will be a standard approach in the emergency department. Who knows?

Scot: All right. You made it to the end. Good for you. Be sure to check out some of our other "Who Cares About Men's Health" episodes.

What you just heard is what we call a "Sideshow." It's where sometimes we talk about health topics that aren't necessarily directly related to what we normally would talk about, which is the core four plus one more. That is to be healthy now and in the future, you should concentrate on your nutrition, your activity, your sleep, your emotional health, and you've got to know your genetics.

Plus, we also have episodes that are dedicated just to men's health issues. So check out some of those episodes as well.

And if you know somebody that would find any of them useful, please go ahead and let them know about the podcast. It's the best way that you can help us grow the podcast.

If you want to reach out, lots of ways to do that. You can call us at 601-55SCOPE and leave a voicemail, you can email us at hello@thescoperadio.com, or you can check out our Facebook page. That's facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for caring about men's health.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Health is more than just diet and nutrition and how you look in the mirror. In order to live your best life, taking care of your mental health is crucial. Your mental state allows you to feel good about yourself, be confident to live the life you want to, and have positive, enriching relationships.

Kevin Curtis is a licensed clinical social worker with University Neuropsychiatric Institute. He suggests asking yourself three questions to assess the state of your mental health:

• Are you having thoughts that are useful to you?
• Are you having thoughts that impact your ability to function?
• Is your emotional state supporting or hindering achieving your goals?

Kevin is joined on this episode by his friend Ben. Ben works at the University of Utah and considers himself a regular guy who has been working with professionals to improve his mental health over the past decade.

Ben admits that he's not the paragon of mental health, but feels tons better than he was 10 years ago. He's learned a few tools and techniques that have helped improve his mental health over the past 10 years. He shares the three tools he feels were the most helpful for him.

1. Box Breathing/Tactical Breathing
   The way you feel during an emotion is ultimately a physical response. The increase in heart rate when anxious. The flush of blood to the face when angry. These physical changes can start a feedback loop with your emotional state that can lead to an overwhelming response.

   To help keep your mind calm when feeling stressed, Ben focuses on his breathing. He will breathe in for a count of four. Hold that breath for a count of four. Breath out for a count of four. Pause for a count of four. Repeat as necessary. This is called "box breathing."

   This breathing technique allows you to shift your mind to a physical response rather than an emotional one. It changes the way your body feels, and in turn is able to help make the emotion feel less overwhelming.

   Tactical breathing uses the same four-second breathing technique but removes the pauses between breaths. This alternative will provide the same benefit, but is best used in a situation when you need to be able to breathe regularly.

2. Check fo BLAST(H) Conditions
   We've all had a friend, partner, or child in our lives that make poor decisions or are particularly irritable because something more physical is going on. It's sometimes easy to see exactly why another person is stressed, but hard to recognize it in yourself. As such, Ben's second technique takes a personal inventory of the following if you are feeling overwhelmed:

   B: Bored
   L: Lonely
   A: Angry
   S: Stressed
   T: Tired
   H: Hungry

   If these "BLAST" conditions are present, recognize they may be having an impact on your emotional state.

   A good step to improve your mental health is to adopt strategies and daily habits that will keep you out of these conditions as often as possible.

3. The Reach Out
   While professional help can be an integral part of your mental health strategy, it's also important to build a network of support and "emotional scaffolding" with people in your life and network.

   "The Reach Out" is a technique that aims to build and strengthen your connection with others. If you are feeling down, or upset about a situation, reach out to two people you trust. These people can be friends, family, coworkers. Take the opportunity to tell them what is going on in your life and how you feel about it. Explain that you are not seeking solutions to your problems, but rather you are merely reaching out to let them know what you are experiencing.

   By expressing vulnerability without setting an expectation, you are inviting these people to join a network of support without placing pressure on them. Additionally, by reaching out and getting personal, you are inviting the possibility of sharing a meaningful interaction that can deepen the bonds you have together.

In times of stress, be sure to take care of your mental health. These tips may help maintain and improve your day to day mental resiliency. However, if you are experiencing overwhelming feelings of depression or contemplating self-harm or suicide, reach out to a professional.

For people in Utah consider the Crisis Intervention Services at University of Utah Health. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Macronutrients or "macros" as you may have heard online are the compounds in our foods that we need to eat a large amount of every day. These macros are fats, carbs, and protein. There are a lot of misconceptions about macronutrients. There are plenty of articles out there making claims about these three macros and how much you should or should not be eating. To help us sort through all the noise, we've brought back nutrition specialist Thunder Jalili to speak about each of these macros in a series we're calling Get to Know Your Macros.

In this episode, we're focusing on protein. What it is, and what it does for your body.

Let's start with the basics. When we eat protein, our digestive system breaks proteins into amino acids. Amino acids are the basic building blocks your cells use to assemble all sorts of compounds and proteins the body needs. For example, amino acids make up connective tissue, muscle fibers, antibodies, as well as enzymes and hormones. You Don't Need to Eat That Much Protein

As men, it seems like every muscle building diet plan you find online focuses heavily on getting a lot of protein every day. Producer Mitch was even doing a plan last summer he found online that was having him eat well over 300 grams of protein every day to help him grow muscle.

According to Thunder, the average person needs a whole lot less protein than that to be healthy and grow muscle. He shares a simple equation he uses for everyone except the most elite of athletes.

(Body weight (in pounds) / 2.2) x 1.2 grams = the number of grams of daily protein

For example, Troy is a pretty active guy and he weighs 155 pounds. According to Thunder's math, Troy only needs around 85 grams of protein every day.

85 grams of protein is a whole lot easier to consume than the amount Mitch was trying to choke down on the plan he found on Reddit. While he was seeing some results, he felt miserable and his food budget was expensive. More Protein Doesn't Mean More Muscle

In spite of the diet plans you see online, eating extra protein every day does not mean that protein goes directly into more muscle growth. In fact, eating extra protein may set you back in your fitness goals. Consuming a large excess of protein increases the total amount of calories you consume in a day, and your body does have a mechanism to turn all that unused protein into fat if conditions are right.

Even a high functioning competitive tri-athlete may need only 2 grams per kilogram of body weight every day during training. But for guys like that, it only comes out to about 140-180 grams of protein a day, not the 300+ grams some forums insist on using. Protein is Protein, but Plant Sources Have Bonus Benefits

According to Thunder, there is no fundamental difference in the way your body utilizes the protein found in animal products or plant sources. One the protein is broken down in the gut, your body will use those amino acids in the same way.

However, it's important to keep in mind that research has shown that a diet very high in animal-based protein may lead to a bevvy of chronic diseases. Meanwhile, plant-based protein sources have the added benefit of containing additional micronutrients and fiber that the animal protein does not. Housekeeping - Who Cares About Mitch's Health 5k

The Who Cares About Mitch's Health Mid-May 5K has started. Morning of May 23rd at Sugarhouse park. Feel free to download a couch to 5k event and join the movement. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Scot realizes how hard it is to leave the house without his phone and trendsetter Troy starts to wear workout clothes to work. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Consuming too much sugar can be quite detrimental to your health. While they may taste good, refined sugars add no nutrients but a lot of calories to the feed we eat. They can lead to packing on extra pounds, impact your cardiovascular health, and increase your risk of diabetes.

According to the American Heart Association, men should have no more than 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of added sugar a day (6 teaspoons and 25 grams for women). That may sound like a lot of sugar in a day and seem pretty easy to avoid, but you may be surprised at how much added sugar is in the food you eat every day.

Nutritionist Thunder Jalili, PhD, explains that even in the food that is "healthy" there can be a shocking amount of added sugar you don't realize you're consuming. For example:

• 2 slices of white bread - 3g or 1 teaspoon of sugar
• Fast food bean burrito - 3g or 1 teaspoon of sugar
• A small cup of flavored yogurt - 10g or 2.5 teaspoons of sugar
• One Packet of flavored instant oatmeal - 18g or 4.5 teaspoons of sugar
• Name brand energy bar - 31g or 8 teaspoons of sugar

All of these items may seem like pretty normal items to consume every day. Some foods may even be bought on the health food aisle. It wouldn't be strange for a person to eat all of these in a single day. But when you add up the hidden added sugars it comes to 66 grams or 16 teaspoons of sugar in a single day. Nearly double what the AHA recommends. Summer Plans During COVID-19

As the weather turns warmer and we get deeper into summer, we're all yearning for summer activities and vacations. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, a lot of summer plans have been canceled. Plus, with the risk of the virus still present, how can we still enjoy the summer while keeping ourselves and others safe?

First, consider risk. How much risk are you personally willing to tolerate? How does your home or work situation impact your risk toleration? Who are the people in your life that will be impacted by your decisions?

After you have a good handle on what you're comfortable with risk wise, you can then assess the riskiness of an activity based on these three values:

• Time - How long will you be in close contact with another person?
• Proximity - How close will you be to other people? How many people will be present?
• PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) - If you can't maintain physical distance, do you have equipment like masks to help reduce the risk of infection?

Analyze your summer activities to deem how risky they will be. It may not be a good idea to do a multi-day river rafting trip with a group of strangers, but a camping road trip to some of the more remote places of the country would be safer.

Get creative on how you can manipulate time, proximity, and PPE this summer to get out and have some fun while staying safe. Odds and Ends - The 5k is this Saturday

The Who Cares About Men's Health 5K is this Saturday, June 20. We encourage anyone who wants to join this virtual race and show support for Mitch as he gets closer to his goal of going from couch to 5K. The virtual race can be completed any way you'd like, whether it be running, biking, walking, skipping, whatever you can do to get in your physical activity that day. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Scot really appreciates Brad Stulberg (@BStulberg) on Twitter and his simple, holisitic approach to health. Troy is so desperate for sports that he has begun watching bowling and NASCAR. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Sleep is absolutely crucial to your health. A lack of sleep can contribute to an increase in stress, weight gain, and a whole slew of potential health problems. Getting a good night's sleep is so important to your health, we consider it one of our Core 4. For optimal health, adults should be getting seven to nine hours of restful sleep a night.

Yet, a recent Harvard study said that as many as 70% of people in the U.S. are getting less than six hours of sleep a night and experiencing "sleep difficulty" at least once a week. Considering so many people struggle to get a good night's rest, what are people to do?

Dr. Kelly Glazer Baron is a clinical psychologist specializing in sleep. She works with patients at University of Utah Health to improve their quality of sleep through behavioral modification rather than medications. It's called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and it may prove beneficial to most people struggling with their sleep.

Dr. Baron suggests patients try following these four basic rules for CBT-I to start improving their sleep.

1. Spend the same number of hours in bed that you sleep.
2. Don't stay in bed unless you're actively sleeping.
3. Don't go to bed unless you're tired.
4. Wake up and get out of bed at the same time every morning.

Like any health journey like weight loss or getting in shape, the road to consistent good sleep takes time. Don't expect immediate results, but following the rules of CBT-I may help a person see significant improvement in their sleep in just a few short weeks.

If you are still struggling to get a good night's sleep, talk to your doctor and consider working with a sleep specialist. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Stress can have a significant impact on a person's health. According to the Mayo Clinic, burnout can lead to:

• Headaches
• Less likelihood of exercise
• High blood pressure
• Weight gain/obesity
• Sleep problems

These conditions can be a real detriment to all of the Core 4 areas of health. So it's important to make sure burnout is kept under controlled and managed.

Dr. Kyle Bradford Jones understands the difficulty of burnout personally. He first experienced the stressful condition during his residency. Between thirty-hour days, not seeing the sun for weeks at a time, and constantly dealing with life and death, Dr. Jones experienced an amount of stress he had never had before, and soon he started experiencing the signs of burnout.

Burnout doesn't only affect the doctors of the world. Burnout can happen to anybody, with any job. Nobody is immune to burnout.

"I saw one stat that said 45% of all workers in the United States experience some level of burnout," says Dr. Jones. What is Burnout?

Clinical burnout is a "physical, emotional, mental, and/or psychological exhaustion from work." The condition usually begins with a feeling of emotional detachment from your job. You may have originally been successful and high performing in your position, but you may start experiencing a slip in quality or satisfaction with your work.

For most people, there can be an overlap in symptoms of burnout and depression. Because of the similarity in symptoms, a person may need a physician or mental health specialist to help discern the difference.

In general, curing burnout is more of a personal journey of finding coping skills and finding the right fit for what works best for you. Whether it be figuring out how to find satisfaction and a sense of worthiness in the job you have or - in more extreme cases - changing jobs.

It's important to be careful when self-diagnosing burnout. Everyone has bad days, bad weeks, and even bad months at work. This doesn't necessarily mean you're experiencing burnout. It could just mean you're human and having a rough run of things.

Burnout is a distinct type of emotional exhaustion and detachment, often ongoing and constant. But if you're finding that you're losing your motivation in work, it may be time to seek professional help.

Additionally, it's important to realize that depression and burnout are not always separate.

"That can be a chicken and the egg situation," says Dr. Jones. Depression symptoms can sometimes feed into burnout, and vice versa.

There's a certain amount of stress that's kind of needed to drive you to do your best. Once that stress gets to a point where it becomes the opposite and keeps you from doing your best you should be concerned about burnout and seek professional help. Fight Burnout by Finding The Right Coping Mechanism For You

One of the best ways to minimize the chance of burnout is to take time off from your work. Research has found that burnout tends to get better with time away from work. If your job allows for time off, consider taking those vacation days. But for a lot of people in the U.S., taking an extended time away from work is sometimes not possible. For those situations, the best solution is to find some coping skills to help alleviate the stress that comes from your job.

These "coping mechanisms" can be anything that helps you destress in as little as five minutes. These are not mere distractions, but instead, activities that allow for a mental and emotional release. These mechanisms actually allow for alleviation of stress by allowing the mind and body a moment to process the mental and physical effects of high stress.

These coping mechanisms can be just about anything that helps you feel a little better. For Dr. Jones, he likes to do puzzles. Every week he finds an hour or two to work on a puzzle. These little breaks help him destress from the stress of work.

Dr. Jones also explains that it is vital to find more than one coping mechanism that you can do to relax. It's important to recognize that for one reason or another, you may not have the time or ability to do a single activity, like exercise. As such, it's important to have a variety of different things you can do in a week.

Some examples of good coping mechanisms are:

• Woodworking
• Going for a walk
• Exercise
• Jogging/running
• Arts and crafts
• Puzzles
• Short mobile games
• Watching or reading about your favorite sports team
• Getting outdoors

It's important to remember to make sure your activities are generally beneficial or constructive. It can be tempting to slip into bad coping mechanisms like drinking too much, overeating, or substance abuse. What to Do If Burnout Won't Go Away

If you're still feeling the effects of burnout from your job after trying out different hobbies and coping mechanisms, it may be time to involve your physician.

Burnout can lead to depression. Or in some cases, burnout may be misdiagnosed as depression. Seek help before the condition gets worse. It may seem trivial to see a doctor for stress related to work, but your mental health should be a priority. Just because stress isn't an illness or a broken bone, it does impact your life and your health. Don't be afraid to seek help.

It's not an illness or a broken bone, but it DOES impact your life, so get it looked at. ER or Not: Really Badly Stubbed Toe

You've stubbed your toe pretty badly; It's bruised and hurts to put weight on it.. Should you go to the ER?

Even if your toe is broken, you do not need to go to the emergency room. Or even an urgent care. That's because the treatment they'll give you is the same as you could do at home.

If you go to the physician, they'll do an x-ray to diagnose if it's broken. After getting back the results, they'll tape the broken toe to the toe next to it and tell you it'll heal in four weeks.

If your toe has a normal alignment and bones aren't sticking out, you can tape your broken toe on your own and save yourself the time and expense of going to the doctor. Housekeeping - Who Cares About Their DNA Giveaway

Scot received two at home genetics test kits over the holiday and is looking for someone to take the test with him. Troy doesn't want to do it. Mitch has already done it. So he's giving one away to a listener.

Over the last few episodes, the guys at Who Cares have been looking deeper into at-home genetic testing and there's a lot more involved with these tests than they originally realized.

Stay tuned as we look deeper into the complex issues surrounding these tests and interview a professional genetics counselor about these direct to consumer tests.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion feel free to comment on Facebook or enter to win a chance to win the test and take it with Scot. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Troy explains what kama muta means and why we all should look for more of it in our lives. Meanwhile, Scot is fascinated by the peculiarities of corgi owner groups on the internet. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

A recent study released by the Harvard Department of Environmental Health claims an association between the number of pushups a person can do and the likelihood of suffering from a cardiovascular event. According to the study, participants were able to do 40 or more pushups were 96% less likely to have cardiovascular disease than participants who could do 10 or less.

With the findings of this study in mind, the guys at Who Cares About Men’s Health wanted to learn how to improve their pushup form and learn the best strategies to increase the amount of pushups they could do. So they brought in an expert.

Dr. Ernie Rimer is a certified strength and conditioning coach and the Director of Sports Science for University of Utah Athletics. He works with the elite athletes on the university sports teams and as such, happens to know a bit about pushups. What Makes a Good Pushup?

According to Ernie, the technique of your pushups is more important than the number you can do. The form is crucial to get the strength benefits of the exercise. Doing fewer pushups with good technique will be more beneficial than doing a lot of pushups with bad form.

In general, there are a few things to keep in mind with your pushup form:

• Keep your body straight during the full movement. One of the biggest benefits of a pushup is that it can work your whole body if done correctly. Make sure your abs and core are engaged in a plank position during the pushup.

• Put your elbows in a neutral position. Elbows should be bending at a “neutral position” or somewhere around 45-degrees from the body. If the elbows are too close or too wide, it can put undue pressure on your joints, especially when you’re first starting strength training.

• Chin Up, Chest to the Ground. To really work your chest and feel that stretch, focus on getting making your chest touch the ground before your chin. Try looking ahead of you rather than down at the ground.

• Don’t let your hips dip. As the body starts to tire, you may find it difficult to keep your hips in a straight line with your body. If your hips touch the ground first, you’re not working your chest. Try engaging your abs more or take a break between sets to make sure you keep proper form and really condition your upper body.

For people who struggle to do even ten pushups, Ernie suggests two strategies to train your body to do more:

1. Start From the Knees
   If your upper body is not yet strong enough to do a high volume of pushups, modify the pushup by placing your knees on the ground. This will reduce the amount of weight your arms are pushing until they’re strong enough to handle your whole body weight.

It’s important to keep the same form as a regular pushup when doing these modified exercises. Make sure to keep your upper body straight, chin up, and don’t let your hips dip.

2. Work Up to Your Goal with Cumulative Sets
   Ernie loves going back to the “Arnold Encyclopedia” when it comes to strength training. If you have a goal in mind of how many pushups you’d like to do, rather than modify the exercise, try breaking your goal into multiple sets.

Say you want to set a goal of 40 pushups in one set. Start by doing as many pushups as you possibly can with good form. Write down the number, and take a break. Once you’ve recovered do another set until failure. Repeat these sets until you reach 40 pushups total. It may take a bit of time, but you’ve worked your body through the same volume of pushups as your goal.

Next time you work on your pushups, review the number of reps and sets, then push yourself to complete the total number of pushups in fewer sets. You’ll eventually find that you’re able to do the full amount of pushups in fewer and fewer sets until one day you’ll be able to do your goal in a single set.

Another thing to consider when starting with strength training is that the “negative portion” of an exercise builds a lot of strength. These “eccentric muscle contractions” can help your muscles as much as the positive movement. If you’re having difficulty completing the exercise, try focusing on just half of the movement to start.

For example, Scot is working to increase the number of pull-ups he can do. He has difficulty pulling himself up, so instead, he will jump up for the first part of the exercise, then slowly lower himself while engaging his muscles. By completing the “negative portion” of the exercise, he’s still building strength and it will eventually help him do the full exercise.

“Remember, you gotta start somewhere,” says Ernie. Don’t push yourself too hard at the expense of good form just to hit a number you think you should be doing. A pushup with bad technique doesn’t build as much strength as a pushup done correctly, and bad form can lead to injury.

You don’t have to do 40 pushups right now to be “healthy.” It’s important to focus on increasing your activity level and getting in the practice of good habits. Start by being a little more active. Start doing however many pushups you can then work up to that magic number of 40. ER or Not: Trauma to Your Testicles

As a man, if you’ve ever been kicked in the groin or racked yourself on your mountain bike, you know it hurts. A lot. But is that testicular trauma something that needs to be seen at an ER.

According to Troy, if you’ve severely injured your testicles, go to the ER.

Don’t go to an urgent care. Don’t wait three to four days to see your primary care doctor. Go to the emergency room.

If your groin hurts and continues to hurt for more than an hour after the initial injury, you may have testicular torsion. Testicular torsion is when the testicle twists in such a way that it cuts off the blood supply to the organ. This is a serious condition.

Without blood supply, you have a six-hour window to get the torsion surgically corrected to save the testicle. The only way to tell if you’re experiencing a torsion is through an ultrasound, which the emergency room will have available.

If you’re experiencing bad pain in your testicles for more than an hour, have difficulty walking due to the pain, or have a large amount of swelling in the area, it may be a torsion. Go to the ER and get it checked. Housekeeping - The 40 Pushup Challenge

Scot and Troy actually did complete the 40 pushup challenge, but it was cut for time in the episode. If you’d like to see the pair push themselves in the studio under the watchful eye of the elite athletic trainer Dr. Ernie Rimer, visit our Facebook. There will be a video there of the challenge

We are still giving away an at-home genetics test to one of our listeners. Stay tuned as we look deeper into the complex issues surrounding these tests and interview a professional genetics counselor about these direct to consumer tests.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion feel free to comment on Facebook or enter to win a chance to win the test and take it with Scot. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Troy finds that not every person respects the Rules of the Trail while hiking in the great outdoors. Meanwhile, Scot has been experimenting with bird photography and learning it may just be easier to get shots of landscapes. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Mental health issues impact one in five adults in the U.S. and up to 35% of American men are struggling with some sort of mental health condition. Despite its prevalence, it seems like men are unlikely to talk about their mental health with others.

Listener Ben first realized he was struggling with mental health issues roughly 10 years ago. Some big changes at work early in his career started making him feel like his life was getting out of control and unmanageable.

Ben was unaware of the extent of his trouble until his father approached him during a family dinner. He mentioned that Ben didn’t seem like the same person he used to be. This was Ben’s wake up call to seek professional help.

Ben’s entry into mental health services came through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that was included in his insurance plan. He learned that the service was created to be a short-term treatment with outcome-focused results. He called the number, made an appointment, and his handle on his mental health dramatically turned around.

Kevin Curtis is a licensed clinical social worker and one of Ben’s good friends. According to Kevin, it is pretty common for people to not realize there is a problem with their mental state until someone in their lives mentions something.

It can be extremely difficult to self diagnose mental health problems. "Most people can see when other people are not doing well," says Kevin. "But they are poor at judging when they aren’t doing well themselves." Even Kevin, as a therapist, uses a mental health professional to work through his troubles. Building Your Mental Health Toolbox

Ben met with a licensed clinical therapist through the EAP program. He appreciated the objective outside perspective and the tools, techniques the therapist provided. After just a few sessions, Ben had the starting of what he calls his "Mental Health Toolbox." A set of techniques he uses to this very day.

In just a few short months Ben notes the marked improvement the therapist had on his life.

Kevin explains that it’s quite common for people to mistake mental health as something that is approached differently than physical health. When a person talks about typical physical health, they understand that there is a broad spectrum of the type of help available depending on the ailment. Primary care physician for maintenance. Specialists for specific issues. Emergency room for a crisis. But when most people think of mental health, they assume you only seek help during a crisis.

He likens this misconception to utilizing a financial planner. You don’t only go to a financial planner when you are in bankruptcy. It’s better to go to a planner before it’s an emergency so they can help set you up for success.

"It’s not what are the problems you are experiencing you want to solve," Kevin explains. It’s more a question of how could your life be better, and what are you willing to do to make it better?" How to Find Help

If you feel you could use some professional help with your mental health, Kevin shares a few avenues you can use to find care.

• Most people that are employed with insurance have some sort of EAP program included with their benefits. Reach out to your employer to find out what services are available to you.
• For people without insurance, there are plenty of low-cost counseling services and organizations available.
• Ask the licensed clinical social worker, therapist, or psychologist, if they use a "sliding scale." Many providers offer services at a cost that is relative to your financial situation. Asking that question should help you find help that won’t break the bank.

Troy received an email from a listener. Apparently this individual found a bat in the woods and played around with it. His family is now insisting he needs to go get a rabies shot, even if he wasn’t bitten. So he reached out to Dr. Madsen to ask what he should do.

Short answer: Better safe than sorry. There is no treatment for rabies, only a preventative shot. The series of shots are not the terrible ones you may have heard of that go into the stomach. The rabies vaccine goes right in the arm like any other injection.

Bats should not be played with. Rabies can be passed not only from a bat bite but from their saliva as well. The chance for infection is so serious, the CDC recommends you get a rabies shot if you wake up in the same room as a bat.

Additionally, it’s smart to avoid playing with wild animals, especially ones that eat meat. These creatures can be asymptomatic carriers that can transmit the disease to humans even if they don’t show any signs. Odds and Ends

The Who Cares About Men’s Health 5K is on June 20. We encourage anyone who wants to join this virtual race and show support for Mitch as he gets closer to his goal of going from couch to 5K. The virtual race can be completed any way you’d like, whether it be running, biking, walking, skipping, whatever you can do to get in your physical activity that day.

Troy shared a photo of him and his corgi in their race bibs to show support for Mitch and his goal of running a 5k. Visit our Facebook page to get your 5k race bib. Download and print the file so you’re ready for race day. Take a photo of yourself in the bib and post them to the Who Cares Facebook page or using the hashtag #WCAMH5k to show your support. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Troy has finally joined social media and is afraid he won’t have any friends and Scot wishes he looked as cool as his shadow does when he runs. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.