all be a part of Movember.
Yeah.
Megan with good. Day.
Welcome back to good Day.
Dateline November 1st is a big day for Men's Health.
And tonight
we're learning all about Movember
with Marc Hagstrom, the US executive
director of the initiative. Hi, Marc. Hi, Michelle.
Thank you for having me on. Yeah, thanks for being here.
So let's start with the basics.
What is Movember?
So Movember is the Global Men's Health charity focused on
three cause areas in men's health, mental health
and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
But we're often known for getting men
to grow a mustache throughout the month of November
across the globe
and raising funds and awareness for men's health.
So my first question then is like,
do you grow your mustache all year round to support this
or are you just getting like an early start?
This is my pre-season mustache, so this is for these
kinds of conversations.
And then I go clean shaving on the first Movember
and I start all over, and in my case, I only grow a mustache.
So you can imagine the conversations
about ten days and. Yeah, absolutely.
So tell us a little bit about why this started,
why it's so important and how it's changed
the face of men's lives.
Well, I think it really started out
as a simple concept of just a bunch of mates
in Australia where we were founded
having a conversation saying let's grow a mustache together.
And what we found though, in that sort of fun, engaging
opportunity was the conversations
that are generated around,
quite frankly, some of the more serious things
we talk about with respect to men's health.
And as we focus on mental health, the suicide prevention
process and testicular cancer, we're here to raise awareness
and to engage in a conversation, but also encourage men
to take action and those around them
that care about those men to help them through
that conversation and taking that action.
So while it's a fun way to engage in conversation
around men's health and growing a mustache, it's
also a very serious conversation
about raising awareness around men's health issues.
And those things
are so important.
experts throughout the year here.
in the realm of men, you know, men
don't sit around and talk the same way women do sometimes.
So like having a month like this,
having a fun kind of way to spin it is huge.
It is.
And I think it's you know, 30 days gives us that opportunity
to really engage in a men's health conversation.
But I think we all recognize that mental health,
a physical health app and every single day of the year.
So it's a way for us to engage at a certain point in the year,
raise awareness and in some ways destigmatize
the conversation around men's health
so we can encourage men to have that conversation
with those around them and then engage in action.
So while it's a it's a unique opportunity,
I think it's a challenge for us to say
how do we take those 30 days and make it just an honest
and straight conversation any day of the year for men?
So I know you have five things you want to tell us
that we should know about men's health
that can help save more men's lives.
Yes, I think the first one is
spend time with the people that make you happy
and that you have fun with.
I think that's
very straight forward for a lot of folks.
So find those people in your lives
that do that for you.
The next is really kind of focusing in on talking
more as we've talked about.
So how do we engage men and open up in that conversation
and allow them to talk about what they might be facing
in their lives that we can help them with
knowing your own numbers.
So if you're a man
that has a history of prostate
cancer in your family, among your brothers,
dads or uncles, know your numbers and engage
in a conversation with your clinician.
And then for younger men know that's nuts.
So testicular cancer is the second leading
cause of cancer in men between 15 and 35.
So how do you engage
in a self-exam around testicular cancer?
And if you find something on your testicle, what do you do?
And then lastly, move more.
So we have a concept within Movember
about moving for those 30 days,
but we know that physical activity
has both a physical health
and a mental health benefit for men and women.
I love talking about
moving more,
especially as we get into the colder months
because it is easier to move more in the summer.
Right?
And it's like,
That's right. No, exactly right.
And it's a great way for women to engage in Movember
as well as the men in growing mustaches.
Yeah, I am not interested
in growing a mustache in November,
but we are interested in supporting you.
Oh, where can we go? For more information.
You can go over to Movember dot com.
You can sign up for the coming campaign.
You can grow a mustache, you can move for the 30 days
with those in your life and you can host events.
You can also donate to the men's health causes we focus on
and also learn a lot more information
about some of the challenges that men face
and how to engage them in your life
in those conversations around their health.
Great. Mark, thank you so much for joining us today. Right.
Thank you for having me.
We'll be right back with more Good Day Stateline.