You all know what Movember is. That glorious time of the year when men all over the world try to keep the cold at bay by pushing out a serious Ronnie (with apologies to the Southern Hemisphere). For non-Irish readers Ronnie = moustache.
Anyway, the point of Movember, beyond the face fuzz fun, is to raise awareness about men’s health issues, primarily prostate & testicular cancer and mental health. It is a fantastic initiative and has captured the attention of people all over the world.
This year MensHealth.ie has jumped aboard the Movember train. Our message and our goals are the same: we want men to look after themselves and to live longer, healthier, happier lives. Men die younger than women, the world over.
The main things that kill men early – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, cancer (prostate or testicular or bowel) – all do their damage silently in the background for years unless uncovered. And when they are found out early, they can be more easily managed and all that damage is prevented. The same is true of mental health problems. The damage is real and it stays silent to the outside world unless you reach out and ask for help.
So to celebrate the joint efforts of Movember and MensHealth.ie this month, MensHealth.ie offered free virtual consults and free in-person full body health checks to as many as we could handle in one day – on November 19th, which was also International Men’s Day (big month for men’s health).
Thanks to Movember’s extensive media reach, we had an overwhelming response. We had waaaay more applicants than we could safely manage, but we got to meet a load of guys on the day, virtually and in-person.
Focusing exclusively on spreading the message to men about the importance of self-care and regular check-ups made for a hugely rewarding day. Hopefully a few more guys will follow on from this and check in more regularly with their GP to stay ahead of the game and stay healthy.
All while sporting champion staches. Roll on next Movember! Covid-free? Let’s hope so.
