Movember, Readify Mo Madness and Men's Health

Published Fri, Oct 19 2007 6:14 | GregLow

My Readify colleague Philip Beadle has been taking a great lead amongst our staff in promoting Movember. He put together a team last year and I didn't get to take part. I wish I had been around to do so. I'm not going to miss it this year. I've joined "Readify Mo Madness".

Movember highlights men's health during November. Participants grow a Mo and it's a bunch of fun but there's a very serious message. It's a personal message for me as about 10 years ago, I had a period of serious depression. The loss of my father was a key trigger but there were many others. I had a period of about a month or so where I really wasn't myself, managed to offend (apparently permanently) a number of people I'd known a long time and generally made a bit of a mess of things.

Most men don't seek help for this. I'm glad I did. It's way too common. Because depression doesn't have an obvious physical symptom like other illnesses, others don't seem to understand it. It still amazes me how people who've known you for, say, twenty years can't realise that you just aren't yourself when going through this. If you see behaviour that's way out of character for someone you've known a long time, try to look beyond your immediate reaction and try to work out if they need help rather than passing shallow judgement. There seems to still be a stigma in the community about admitting that you've been through this. Given how common it actually is, that's truly sad. Awareness of the problem is the first step.

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and to BeyondBlue - The National Depression Initiative. The funds will be used to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.

Philip's email to us also noted:

  • Depression affects 1 in 6 men...Most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.
  • Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually.
  • Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 5 years less than females.
To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/au/donate, enter my registration number which is 70880 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Movember Foundation" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 70880. Please mail cheques to: PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.