MOVEMBER
As we move into the winter months, it’s time to warm your faces, show your support for Movember, and grow out that moustache.
Movember began in 2003 in the hopes of raising awareness and support for men’s health. Specifically, focusing on mental health and suicide, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
Physical Health
It is recorded that over 63,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer annually. With these statistics in mind, testing is vital. Movember works towards a future where raising awareness about physical health means early diagnosis, more support networks, and successful treatment. Men who are diagnosed early have survival rates as high as 99%.
Here are symptoms to look out for…
Pain in the back, the hips, and the pelvis
Blood in urine or semen
Pain when urinating or ejaculating
Difficulty starting or stopping urine flow
Over-frequent urination, particularly at night
However, early prostate cancer is most commonly asymptomatic, making regular testing even more important. Testing for prostate cancer is something that should begin as early as 40, and consistently after the age of 50.
This movement is not about worrying, but encouraging a society where men’s health is not a controversial subject. Talk to your friends: encourage them to get tested and, most importantly, look after yourself too.
Mental Wellbeing
Movember is not only about physical health, but also emphasises the importance of mental well-being. In 2024, the male suicide rate was more than triple that of female suicide. Who you are and how you feel are not the same thing! Whatever our gender, we are human, and we all feel.
Peer pressure, financial stress and anxiety surrounding work can be unavoidable at times: building up as a knot in the stomach, or a weight on the shoulders. However, this is something everyone experiences at times and, therefore, something you can talk about with whoever you feel comfortable with. Mental struggles are a human experience that can be aided just through words: you will often find you are not alone in how you feel, and just sharing that emotion halves the burden.
Supporting this movement validates everyone’s right to feel and talk about those feelings. Perhaps, also, by acknowledging this movement, we can acknowledge own feelings and move forward positively with support.
How To Get Involved
Signing up to Movember.com means helping the movement grow and, in turn, raising more awareness. Becoming a member of Movember.com also means the chance to host events and engage with the local community.
Talk about it! The moustache is a fantastic conversation starter to discuss men’s health and why Movember is such an important movement.
Donate to the cause. Whether it is financial help or voluntary help, giving support to the movement means it reaches more people and, in turn, helps more people!
Support Networks
Prostate Cancer UK 0800 074 8383
Movember 0800 585858
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