10 Ways to Protect Your Personal Information

Identity theft affects millions of people each year and can cause serious harm. Protect yourself by securing your personal information, understanding the threat of identity theft and exercising caution.

Here are 10 things you can start doing now to protect yourself and your loved ones from identity theft: obesity and diabetes, which in itself is a risk factor for cardiac and vascular problems contributing to a shorter lifespan.”

1. Protect your Social Security number by keeping your Social Security card in a safe place at home. Don’t carry it with you or provide your number unnecessarily.

Seeking proper healthcare and preventive care could also help more men increase their longevity instead of “toughing it out” when sick or hurt, she added.

“Waiting longer before seeking medical care can cause disease or illness diagnosed at a later stage makes treatment more difficult and often leading to poor outcomes,” Markowski said.

Typically, women use healthcare earlier and more frequently. That extends to mental healthcare as well, since the stigma for doing so is often higher for men. Women also tend to find better means of improving mental health.

“Men have anxiety and depression just as women do, but women may have healthier coping mechanisms such as exercise, yoga or forms of self-care,” Markowski said.

Forming close friendships with other men and forging tighter family bonds can also help improve mental health.

“Fitness and physical activity generally reduce the risk of chronic diseases, which can play a role in longevity and quality of life,” said Kara Kane, public information officer for the Erie County Health Department.

Most men of healthy weight should engage in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. Men who are overweight may need more.

Kane encourages men — or women — who are interested in improving their healthful longevity to look into the resources available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including www.cdc. gov/physicalactivity/index.html and www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/older_adults/index.htm to learn more about physical activity.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cancer was the second leading cause of death, after heart disease, in the United States in 2020. In 2020, there were 602,350 cancer deaths; 284,619 were among females and 317,731 among males.

2. Be careful when you speak with unknown callers. Scammers may mislead you by using legitimate phone numbers or the real names of officials. If they threaten you or make you feel uneasy, hang up.

3. Create strong, unique passwords so others can’t easily access your accounts. Use different passwords for different accounts so if a hacker compromises one account, they can’t access other accounts.

4. Never give your personal or financial information in response to an unsolicited call or message, and never post it on social media.

5. Shred paper documents that contain personal information, like your name, birth date and Social Security number.

6. Protect your mobile device from unauthorized access by securing it with a PIN, adding a fingerprinting feature, or using facial