Happy Movember! Every November, the Movember Foundation celebrates “Movember,” a movement that brings awareness to and raises money for men’s health issues, including testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and mental health issues, often by growing out and sporting a mustache all month long to spark a conversation. Read on for our Movember men's health tips!
Get Moving!
Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health! Here are just a few things exercise can do for you:
- Helps you maintain or lose weight. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories, and when you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight!
- Enhances your mood. Exercise increases the amount of serotonin in your body, a hormone that, in part, helps your brain regulate mood. Basically, exercise can help you feel happier and more relaxed.
- Combats health conditions and diseases. For instance, regular exercise lowers blood pressure and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, which in turn puts you at a lower risk of stroke, heart disease, heart attack, and type 2 diabetes.
- Improves sleep. People who exercise regularly fall asleep faster and have an overall better quality of sleep. Just don’t work out right before bed!
- Reduces issues with erectile dysfunction. The leading cause of erectile dysfunction is a circulatory condition called “arterial dysfunction,” an issue where blood flow is reduced due to narrowed blood vessels. Because physical activity helps with circulation, men can use exercise as prevention or treatment for erectile dysfunction.
Even if you know that you should be getting more physical activity, you might not be sure how to go about it. One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways is to add more steps into your daily routine. Maybe you could add a walk in the morning, either by waking up early enough to take a walk around the neighborhood before work or by parking farther away once you get there. In fact, you can take multiple 10 to 15 mini-walks rather than one long walk! And for bonus points, try a run or a trip to the gym.
Stay Connected
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. One of the Movember Foundation’s goals is to lower the suicide rate, which affects men at a rate three and a half times higher (opens in a new tab)than women. Despite this, men are also less likely than women to receive formal mental health care. This is in part because of the large stigma around men’s mental health and the belief among and about men that having or expressing feelings makes a man weak.
Because of this stigma, it’s important to reach out and stay connected to the men around you. If you’re struggling, know that you can reach out for help(opens in a new tab), and if you’re worried a friend or family member might be struggling, you can help create a space for them to express their feelings, something they might not otherwise have an opportunity to do without judgment.
When you reach out to one of the men in your life, ask questions about how he’s feeling, and mention any changes you’ve noticed, if needed. Listen when he answers, and know that you don’t have to solve his problems; oftentimes, just knowing that someone cares goes a long way. Continue to check in regularly, and encourage him to reach out to others in his life and to his doctor if his struggles continue.
Check Yourself Out
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men, but when caught early, it’s both treatable and curable. This makes early detection particularly important, meaning it’s important to do a self-examination every month. These self-examinations are easy and can be done in the comfort of your own shower. Just roll each testicle, one at a time, between your thumb and fingers, checking for any changes or pain. If you notice a change or pain, or if something else doesn’t feel right, head to your doctor.
Keep Up With Your Doctor
Speaking of your doctor, there’s another kind of cancer you’ll need help detecting: prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men of all ages in the United States, and just like with testicular cancer, early detection is important. At 50 years old, you’ll want to have a conversation with your doctor about screening for prostate cancer, though if you’re African American or have a family history of prostate cancer, you’ll want to have that conversation at 45 years old.
Your men’s health specialist can help you with more than cancer screening, too. Prima CARE’s men’s health clinic also evaluates and treats low testosterone, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, infertility, gynecomastia, and Peyronie’s disease.
To celebrate this Movember, make an appointment with the men’s sexual health doctors near you at Prima CARE. Schedule online or call (744)-375-0504 for more information!
