Prostate Health After 40: What Every Man Should Know
Most men reach 40 without ever having given a single thought to their prostate — until suddenly they're up twice a night to pee and wondering what changed. The honest answer: your prostate itself is changing, and 40 is exactly when doctors start paying closer attention to it. What the Prostate Actually Does The prostate is a small gland, roughly the size of a walnut, sitting just below the bladder and wrapping around the urethra. Its main job is producing part of the fluid in semen. Around age 40, it's completely normal for the prostate to begin gradually growing — a process that continues for the rest of a man's life and is at the root of most prostate-related symptoms that show up over the following decades. The Three Main Conditions to Know About Prostatitis — inflammation of the prostate, often from a bacterial infection. Can cause pain, urinary symptoms, and sometimes flu-like symptoms. This is the prostate issue most likely to affect men specifically in their 4...