Five Ways to Get Involved this Movember
Since 2003, Movember Foundation, a men’s health initiative, has been bringing awareness and funding to 1,250 men’s health initiatives to decrease the premature death of men. Men’s health is in crisis. On average, men die 6 years earlier than females from mostly preventable reasons. This November, show your support for men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. No mustache is required. Here are five ways to get involved.
Grow a mustache and raise funds
By growing a mustache, you are raising awareness for men’s health issues, such as mental health, suicide prevention, testicular, and prostate cancer. Growing a mustache can be hard and take time to maintain, so ask friends and family to help support your cause by donating in your name all November long. Growing a mustache can be a conversation starter and a way to discuss the importance of men’s health issues with others around you. A couple of quick tips to caring for your mustache – the best way to keep your mustache under control is to start by maintaining it from the beginning. It is also helpful to use a good facial cleanser to make sure you get dead skin cells and food out of your mustache daily. Lastly, never cut a wet mustache, always make sure the hair is dry before trimming.
Get Moving – 60 miles for 60 men
Some people don’t want to grow a mustache, or can’t grow facial hair well, but there are other opportunities to get involved in Movember by raising funds and awareness for men’s health. Try running or walking 60 miles over the month. 60 is the number of men who die every hour of every day due to suicide across the world. There is a large disparity around the world of men compared to women who commit suicide. Over 75% of suicide cases globally are men. This is a complex, multi-factorial issue, but bringing awareness to suicide can help those who need mental health help, get easier, quicker access to the help they so desperately need. So lace up your tennis shoes and start pounding the pavement or treadmill to hit 60 miles this November.
Donate
As wonderful as awareness is, donations to Movember Foundation help fund programs across the world that target men’s health. To date, just in the United States, the Movember Foundation is funding 27 different projects, from prostate cancer clinical trials to targeted mental health and wellbeing outreach for men of all ages. The list is long of the different projects that Movember is helping to fund currently around the world.
Show the men in your life you love and care for them
If left unchecked, over the next 15 years, prostate cancer will double in incidence. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males age 15-39. Both of these cancers, if caught early, have high survival rates. What saves lives? Knowledge and prevention save countless lives. The Movember Foundation use funds raised to increase health screens, get information out to young men, educating them from an early age.
Refer people you know to seek physical therapy for post-surgical prostate recovery
Pelvic floor physical therapy after prostate removal can be beneficial in reducing urinary leakage. In a recent study published in The Journal of Urology, early physical therapy treatment to the pelvic floor has a significant positive impact on the early recovery of urinary continence after surgery compared to those with no therapy. Through research, we also know that early intervention is best; at Freedom Physical Therapy, we aim to see patients 4-6 weeks post-surgery. Even more beneficial is having 1-3 physical therapy visits before having surgery. Another recent study determined that attending physical therapy before surgery reduced the frequency of urinary leakage after surgery.
Regardless of how you get involved this November – growing a mustache, hitting the treadmill for 60 miles, donating, or spreading awareness about suicide, prostate/testicular cancer, and mental health, make this Movember count for all the men that are important in your life.