Journalism student John Monaghan has had an interest in men's issues for some time and when he heard of the Man Matters project it prompted him to volunteer his time.

This is the first in a series of occasional articles John will write about men. We at the Man Matters project think that many men will recognise John's situation and hope that our project will help men like him take a more proactive approach to their health.

''Lucky I'm not a woman,'' I quipped to the nurse taking the blood test, as I looked away from the needle, beads of sweat trickling down my forehead.''I know – or then you'd have to really experience pain – giving birth,'' she smirked, amused that the man in front of her had a facial reaction akin to a four year old going on a Haunted House tour.

That was on my last trip to the doctor. I mused on the joke as I left, reflecting that the irony of it was that I had only gone after severe pestering by a female.In my experience, peace and quiet is a powerful incentive for checking your health, although keeping on top of high cholesterol and weight should really have been my primary concern.

I tend to take the usual male approach to health issues, believing that if I ignored it long enough it would get bored and go away.However, high cholesterol (or insert another health problem of your choice), you may be surprised to know, takes a while to get bored.

Although men are significantly more affected by suicide and poor health issues than women in Northern Ireland, this attitude on mention of health – bury the head in the sand – prevails.

It is often an ingrained thought process which can be difficult to overcome. Yet, in my more trivial example, being pro-active (even at the request of a female) has enabled me to keep on top of health issues when they arise.

Never mind pestering females or prevailing attitudes however, the most difficult challenge now for my health is seeing how believable I can make my weekly curry and alcohol intake seem for my next trip to the doctor.
And in case you're wondering, I don't advise doing division and subtraction sums too heavily for that exercise. The Greek government's accountants got found out in the end, and so will you.