Health Clicks

Health Clicks, the new guide to all things healthy online is now available.

It explains on how to get online (including for free), training, how to search more effectively, how to tell if a website is reliable, how to use Facebook and other sites, buying medicines online, the most popular topics online (including the penis, the prostate, mid-life crisis, hair loss and depression), how to use what you've learned online offline and the top 10 men's health websites.

There's the introduction to the manual below. To order copies (currently available in bulk only), click here.

Introduction: What's the internet got to do with health?

Health Clicks cover The internet is a global network of millions of computers and billions of pages of information on every subject imaginable. You can access all of them – and you don’t even need to own a computer to do it.

When used properly the internet is probably the best source of health information there is. It’s easy-to use, fast, free, up-to-date and private. Even if you go no further than the Men’s Health Forum’s website malehealth.co.uk or the NHS sites, you’ll be less likely to get ill and more likely to know what to do if you are.

But the internet can also be the worst source of health information – and the scariest – if you’re looking in the wrong places. This mini-manual will show you how to use the internet healthily.

Can a computer replace a doctor?

No. Online health information is no substitute for seeing a doctor or for talking over a problem. What it will do is put everything in context and help you make informed decisions. Men often worry about wasting their GP’s time because we don’t know if our health concern is serious or not. Used properly, the internet can help remove this uncertainty and help you get the most from a conversation or a consultation.

The internet makes talking easier, it doesn’t replace it

A lot of people criticise the internet because, they say, it means we don’t talk to each other any more. This is not true. The internet has actually made it easier for us to talk to each other about the things that matter.

Perhaps you’ve got something that you can’t talk about. Something that’s too bloody painful to even admit, let alone discuss. There are many reasons why men don’t discuss problems with their doctors or even their partners – embarrassment, an assumption that it’s normal or that nothing can be done, a feeling that they are the ‘only one’.

A quick look at the internet will show you there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re not the only one and there’s nearly always something that can be done. Often quite easily.

The internet makes it possible to talk to others with similar concerns. There are support groups out there for nearly every condition and concern you can think of – and then some. A good starting point is the website of a reputable voluntary organisation working with people who have the health problem you’re concerned about. You don’t have to talk straight away. Read. Send an email.

Whatever it is that’s on your mind, we guarantee that there’s someone else out there who has talked about it. And that doing so has helped them. Knowing this should make it easier to talk to those close to you – and your GP.

The Health Clicks mini-manual can help get you started even if you’ve never been online before and think a PC is a bloke in a blue uniform. We try to explain technical terms when we use them and there’s a full glossary at the back.