Movember: Why Taking Charge of Your Health Is Strength

Movember is a global campaign in which men grow a moustache every November as a visible reason to talk about men's health and raise money for it. It covers prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. And it carries an idea that may matter more than any moustache: strength isn't putting up with symptoms – it's taking your health into your own hands. That's exactly what many men find hard. Shame and fear are among the best-documented reasons men put off screening ¹.

What is Movember actually about?

Movember is a blend of "moustache" and "November". The idea began in Australia in 2003, when a group of friends decided to bring the unfashionable moustache back and raise money for prostate cancer research along the way. Today it has grown into an international foundation.

The rules are simple: start clean-shaven on 1 November and grow a moustache, the "Mo", for the whole month. The moustache is a means to an end. It gets noticed and commented on – and someone asked "What's going on with your moustache?" suddenly has a reason to talk about their prostate, their bowel or how they're really doing.

If you can't or don't want to grow one, there are alternatives. With "Move", you run or walk 60 kilometres during November – one for each of the 60 men who die by suicide every hour worldwide ². Others host their own events or fundraisers ("Mo Your Own Way").

Three topics are at the centre:

• Prostate cancer – the most common cancer in men.
• Testicular cancer – mainly affects younger men.
• Mental health and suicide prevention – because men often leave their struggles unspoken for a long time.

What connects all three is the same message: pay attention, talk about it, take action.

What do shame, fear and strength have to do with men's health?

A lot. A systematic review pooling studies from several countries found three recurring reasons why men with cancer symptoms see a doctor late: limited knowledge and misreading symptoms, embarrassment and fear, and conforming to traditional ideas of masculinity ¹.

Shame is often about where in the body we're talking about. The prostate and bowel are intimate; a physical exam, a stool sample or a colonoscopy involve parts of the body few people discuss over dinner.

Fear works against itself. Worrying about bad news leads people to postpone it – and to lose exactly the time when early detection can do the most.

And strength? The old picture says: tough it out, don't let it show, keep going. But that picture has a catch – it leaves your health to chance. The new picture of strength is active: I don't wait for my body to sound the alarm. I know my numbers, I know what they mean, and I decide what to do with them.

That includes talking about it. The single most important factor that actually got men to see a doctor was encouragement from partners and family ¹. Talking openly about screening helps more than just yourself.

How common are prostate and colorectal cancer in men?

In Austria, prostate cancer is by far the most common cancer in men, accounting for almost a third of all cancer diagnoses in men ³. Colorectal cancer ranks third in both sexes, with men's risk around one and a half times that of women ³.

The encouraging news is in the details: men's colorectal cancer risk has actually fallen in recent years ³. These trends can be influenced. Absolute numbers are still rising, mainly because our society is getting older – and because more and more people are living with or after a cancer diagnosis as survival improves ³. So the task for the coming decades is clear: not just living longer, but spending more of those years in good health.

What does prostate cancer screening really achieve?

It can save lives – which is exactly why it's worth doing well. Screening is usually based on PSA, a protein made by the prostate that is measured in the blood. A raised level can point to cancer, but also to inflammation or a benign enlargement of the prostate.

The largest European study on the subject followed men for more than two decades. Regular PSA screening lowered the risk of dying from prostate cancer by about 13 percent, and the benefit grew over the years ⁴. At the same time, more tumours were found, including slow-growing ones that might never have caused problems in a man's lifetime ⁴. The researchers conclude that future screening should be risk-based – paying closer attention to each man's personal risk ⁴.

Why does your personal PSA trend matter?

Because a single value without context tells you little – while your personal baseline and how it develops tell you a lot. PSA levels differ from man to man and depend on things like age and prostate size.

Your baseline in midlife is especially revealing. A long-term Swedish study using blood samples from men in their 40s and early 50s found that almost half of later prostate cancer deaths occurred among the ten percent with the highest levels at that age ⁵. Conversely, men with a low baseline had a very low risk for many years – for them, longer gaps between tests may be appropriate ⁵. Your own starting value helps decide how closely you need to keep watch.

On top of that, PSA fluctuates from year to year even without disease. Many abnormal single results were normal again at a later test ⁶. Knowing your trend helps you recognise an outlier as an outlier, rather than worrying after one result. To keep values comparable over time, it's best to test at the same laboratory.

To be honest about the limits: how fast PSA rises says little on its own, based on current evidence. Studies found little sign that the rate of increase adds information beyond the PSA level itself ⁷. Your trend doesn't replace medical assessment – it gives it context. And it turns a one-off test into a path you steer yourself.

Family is part of personal risk too. Changes in certain genes, such as BRCA2 – which many people only know from breast cancer – can raise the risk of prostate cancer, and men pass them on to their children just as women do ⁸. If you know your father or brother had cancer, raise it with your doctor and start earlier.

Why is colorectal cancer screening a success story?

Because it doesn't just catch cancer early – it can prevent it. Colorectal cancer usually develops over years from initially harmless growths in the bowel lining called polyps. If they're removed during a colonoscopy, they can no longer turn into cancer ⁸.

In Austria, the national screening committee recommends colorectal cancer screening for everyone aged 45 to 75 – by colonoscopy or by a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), which detects hidden blood in the stool ⁹. Both are considered equally valid starting points; a positive stool test should always be followed up with a colonoscopy ⁹. Hereditary conditions such as Lynch syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) call for earlier and more frequent checks ⁸.

What about testicular cancer?

Here the good news is especially strong: testicular cancer is rare, and even at advanced stages more than 90 percent of cases are cured ¹⁰. It mainly affects younger men and is more common when a father or brother has had it ⁸.

A fixed self-examination routine for everyone isn't supported as a screening method, which is why the US guideline recommends against routine screening ¹⁰. Most cases are found by men themselves or their partners anyway ¹⁰. That's where the strength lies: knowing your own body, noticing changes – and getting a new swelling or lump checked promptly instead of waiting ⁸.

Topic	What's recommended	Good to know
Colorectal cancer	Age 45 to 75: colonoscopy or stool test (FIT) 9	Precancerous growths can be removed during colonoscopy 8
Prostate cancer	PSA as an informed decision with your doctor 4	Your own baseline helps set the testing interval 5
Testicular cancer	Get changes or swelling checked promptly 8	Over 90% cured, even when advanced 10
Cancer in the family	Ask about genetic counselling 8	Can justify earlier, more targeted screening 8

And research keeps moving: a liquid biopsy can read tiny traces of tumour DNA in the blood – for example to better assess the risk of recurrence after colorectal cancer surgery ⁸. It isn't yet a general blood test for all cancers, but the direction is clear: medicine is becoming more personal and increasingly guided by data from our own bodies ⁸.

How can you take charge of your screening – with speak23?

What the evidence shows today: screening works when it happens regularly. The benefit of PSA screening came from repeated testing over many years ⁴, the stool test is designed to be repeated ⁹, and your personal baseline is what makes a single result meaningful ⁵⁶. The biggest gap is rarely the medicine itself, but what happens before and after: appointments get postponed, results disappear into drawers, and no one looks at the values together.

What becomes possible: we believe screening can feel different – not like a one-off act of courage, but like something you steer yourself. Our approach at speak23 is to give you exactly that ownership: knowing your own numbers, understanding your trend, acting with purpose and seeing what changes.

1. Know your baseline – With the PSA add-on test, you establish your personal starting value. Together with your doctor, you can use it to decide how often further tests make sense.
2. See your trend instead of comparing single values – All values are documented digitally and automatically. The app shows how your PSA and blood markers develop over time, so an outlier is recognisable as an outlier.
3. Make screening a routine – With speak23, you measure your blood markers 2 or 4 times a year; from 45, you can add colorectal cancer screening by stool test (iFOBT) at the recommended interval.
4. Act with purpose and see the effect – You get personalised, evidence-based recommendations designed to steer your personal trends in the right direction, for example for metabolic or inflammation markers. At your next test, the app shows what has changed.
5. Share family history, follow up anything unusual – Bring your speak23 results and your family history to your doctor. A positive stool test needs a colonoscopy, a raised PSA needs medical assessment, and a change in a testicle needs a prompt examination. speak23 does not replace a diagnosis.
6. Talk about it – and get moving – Tell friends, your partner or family that you're taking charge of your screening, or take on the 60 kilometres in November together. Encouragement from people close to you is one of the strongest reasons men take the first step ¹.

A moustache doesn't cure anything. But it can be the moment a man decides to stop waiting. If a generation of men comes to see screening not as weakness but as ownership of their own bodies, it will change more than individual results – it will change how we grow older together.

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