At about this time last year I was sitting in Jamie Oliver's resturant in Bristol enjoying some delicious food and admiring the fantastic moustaches that all the waiters were sporting. As an afficionado of looking good I complimented one of those excellent fellows and commented on the scarcity of his style of facial fashion statement and was immediately asked 'but don't you know about Movember?' A short conversation later and I was committed to taking part in Movember 2013.
What is Movember?
For everyone who doesn't know, Movember is a movement where gentlemen grow moustaches for the month of November in order to raise awareness and money for men's health issues. Unusually for a charity, this particular movement started as a bet in an Australian pub between a few mates but has quickly grown to become the largest contributor to prostate cancer charities world-wide and now supports a growing range of men's health causes with the millions it raises every year (Nearly £20 million so far this Movember.
Why Men's Health?
Despite the lack of a biological reason for doing so, the life expectancy for men is significantly shorter than for women. There's no simple reason for this but contributing factors include;
- Men are notoriously bad at openly discussing their health and how they're feeling
- Men engage in risky activities that threaten their health
- Men are more reluctant to take action when feeling unwell (physically or mentally)
- There is generally less awareness of men's health issues
For example, did you know ...
- Men are 14% more likely to develop cancer and 37% more likely to die of cancer than women.
- Around 2300 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer in the UK every year
- In the UK the number of men diagnosed with prostrate cancer exceeds 100 every day!!!
- Suicide is the most common cause of death in men under 35
Support The Indigo Herbs Movember Team
As an organisation dedicated to 'Empowering Optimum Health and Nutrition it seems natural for Indigo Herbs to support Movember and I quickly recruited Steve, Milo, Cameron and Shambo and some of our non Indigo brothers to the hairy cause. We have all started growing our moustaches and at the end of the month I'll publish a team photo of how we got on. We're running a fundraiser on the 19th so if you're around and about the Glastonbury area, come and visit us in The King Arthur pub that evening.
The most important part of Movember is growing awareness by growing moustaches and I love the simple genius of this. However raising money is also important and I invite everyone who reads this to donate on the Movember website.
Together we can change the face of men's health.
