TheCity

Tag: physical health

  • Top tips to stay healthy as winter is upon us

    Top tips to stay healthy as winter is upon us

    Staying healthy during winter- your top tips from TheCity.ie. Photo courtesy of iStock

    By Johnathon Pearl

    Winter is here and exercise is more important than ever, not only for the body but also for the mind.

    With temperatures plummeting and evenings getting darker by the day, many people find motivation to exercise extremely difficult and as a result it simply gets lost in routine.

    Summer months provide people with a lot more freedom to exercise. A December night in Ireland lasts almost 17 hours and the days start about 4 hours earlier compared to the summer months.

    In Winter, particularly on weekdays it can be extremely difficult to get out for a run, go for a cycle and virtually impossible to go for a swim, unless you wanted hypothermia.

    So how do people go about exercising in the Winter?

    Strength and fitness coach Suzanne Flannagan explained just how important it is to keep up a level of exercise during the winter months and how to train efficiently.

    ‘’It is very important for young people to do some sort of exercise at all times but especially in the world we live in right now. 

    ‘’With technology so advanced it is so easy for young people to just sit inside with play stations, which keep them entertained until they go to sleep and not exercise at all.’’

    ‘’We all know it is very difficult in the winter months, (gets dark early) so planning is vitally important. Designate an hour when it is bright to exercise 4 or 5 times a day and it will make you feel so much better about yourself.”

    Suzanne Flannagan

    ‘’Any sort of exercise young people can benefit from, a simple jog out the back of the house, a workout with another family member, whatever people feel comfortable with.”

    Flannagan emphasized the need to plan before exercising.

    ‘’We all know it is very difficult in the winter months, (gets dark early) so planning is vitally important. Designate an hour when it is bright to exercise 4 or 5 times a day and it will make you feel so much better about yourself,” she explained.

    ‘’Plan a time to exercise at the start of the week or even the night before, so that you know its going to be bright while exercising.

    ‘You don’t’ have to go outside to exercise’ remarked Flannagan when asked about the shortened days.

    ‘’Equipment like an exercise bike, a treadmill or even a rowing machine can be used but even getting a matt out in a corner by yourself and doing body weight exercises is perfect. It will give a great boost to your day.

    It is well known that exercise releases happy thoughts in people’s brains. Several studies have been done showing exercising releases happy endorphins which in turn puts people into a much happier place mentally.

    Personal Trainer Gavin McCoy recently moved to Australia to study health and conditioning.

    Speaking to thecity.ie he gave tips for exercising in Winter but also commented on studying the benefits exercise can have on the mind.

    ‘’Exercise is so important, so many studies are done on it, but I still think the majority of people don’t actually realize how valuable it is.’

    ‘’Learning more about mental health over here, (Australia) makes you become such a big advocate to encourage people to have at least one piece of exercise in their daily lives.’

    ‘’A lot of fitness advocates that are big on Tik Tok and Instagram constantly talk about taking rest days, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do yoga or stretching. I would be really big on doing a piece of exercise a day.

    ‘’Some people might not think it but for an exercise Yoga is probably one of the best things you can do. Especially with the early nights, find a peaceful place in your house bring your mat and do some Yoga, it is brilliant for the mind.’’

    ‘’Of course, running, swimming, cycling help but not everyone likes or can do them, an hour of meditating or stretching are also great ways of feeling better particularly as the days in Ireland are quite short.’’

    Talking about his studies he enlightens us on different ways to feel better about yourself and how different ways of exercising appeals to different personalities.

    ‘’Obviously, exercise is key but some of the ways I have learned that improves your mental health and day to day living are crazy.

    ‘’One of the probably eye-opening things we were told was having a cold shower at the start of every day. It is crazy because it puts you in such a good place mentally. 

    ‘’I know everyone loves a warm shower and they are nice but, the idea of having a cold shower in the morning is that it’s your first challenge of the day, the idea of a shower like that is that it isn’t supposed to be nice and relaxing it’s all about passing the first challenge of the day, it is brilliant.’’

    Gavin also stressed that ‘people should only focus on themselves and not other people.’

    ‘’I get asked about gym membership all the time, and whether or not people have to get gym membership to exercise, which just entirely isn’t the case. A lot of people focus on other people and what they are doing when all that people should be caring about is themselves.

    ‘’Going to the gym and working out with other people can be beneficial to some but it can be also quite daunting. It’s all about yourself and what you prefer, constantly thinking about what others are doing can be really difficult on people’ minds and it won’t allow you to get the best out of yourself.’’

    Exercising is one of the most important things to do in Winter. Whether it is a run, a cycle, yoga or even swimming, every little helps.

  • Movember helps MENtal and Physical Health

    Movember helps MENtal and Physical Health

    Shay Galon

    Already three quarters through the month, Shay Galon reports on how social media allows Movember to spearhead the change in perceptions of masculinity for the better. 

    Movember is urging the public to check in on a mate and to open the conversation about mental and physical health. It encourages men to speak openly about anything that isn’t right and to check their body or go get checked professionally. The iconic “manly” moustache aims to promote the idea that being a man truly means to be comfortable opening up about one’s mental and physical health.

    The leading charity recently released figures that show approximately 60% of men rarely admit or even speak about issues regarding their mental health. The figures also tragically reveal that in 2021 a man dies by suicide every minute around the world. On top of that, the statistics show that unchecked prostate cancer rates are to double over the next 15 years. Internationally, testicular cancer is the most common cancer among men aged 15 – 39 years of age.

    “Movember is the leading charity dedicated to changing the face of men’s health on a global scale. We have one goal: to stop men dying too young,” Movember spokesperson wrote to The City. 

    “Since the Pandemic began, we have all seen the power that social media has on allowing us to feel connected to one another even when we are far apart. Social media is a great way for our MoBros and Sisters to come together as a community.”

    A Hairy Tale

    Two mates from Melbourne, Australia, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, were having a few pints at the Gypsy Bar when they joked about bringing the trend of having a moustache back into fashion. The pair then talked some of their friends into growing a Mo.

    Inspired by a friend’s mother who was fundraising for breast cancer, the two friends decided to base the campaign around men’s health and prostate cancer. They designed the rules of Movember, along with the first logo and began their journey. Initially charging ten dollars per person growing a Mo, they sent an email titled “Are you man enough to be my man?” which immediately received responses from 30 guys willing to participate in the challenge.

    In 2004, Adam Garone took Movember to the next level and registered it as a company and created a website. 

    After researching men’s health issues, the Mo Bros agreed to formally support prostate cancer as their cause. Globally speaking, the charity donated all proceeds from their first year to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). The four boys collaborated with the PCFA who became the first official men’s health partner in 2005. That year, 9,315 Mo Bros in Australia raised AUD 1.2 million for the PCFA.

    Fast-forward a year later, the Movember Foundation became an official Australian Charity.

    Furthering their research, they discovered that depression was a significant issue in men’s health in Australia which brought their second partner, the national depression and anxiety initiative, to join. 

    The same year, the foundation expanded to New Zealand in partnership with The Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ. Campaigns in the UK and Spain were also successful. This enthusiasm allowed the co-founders to grow internationally which generated enormous awareness of men’s health issues. 

    Social media is by far the most successful platform for men and women to vocalise their Movember stories and to raise awareness about mental and physical health. The hashtag #Movember has been used across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by those who participate each year.

    Connections with ‘like-minded people‘

    Ross Galvin, Movember ambassador, spoke to @humansofdub about his mental health struggles over the past year and how he stumbled upon a wave of like-minded people who were undergoing the same journey. Once the pandemic hit in 2020, Galvin felt the ground shake from underneath him as he moved back into his childhood home with no job and the repetition of doing absolutely nothing dragging through each day. 

    “That was when I got sick. I couldn’t eat or sleep for weeks and in a matter of days I lost 10kg…  I had reached a really low point and was thinking very dark thoughts, unsure how things would ever improve.”

    Growing up in Howth, he decided to swim every day for 30 days in November to raise awareness for men’s mental health and posted about it on his Instagram. As the days progressed, Galvin openly admitted that he led on as if this act was for others, “but internally, I was really doing it for myself,” in the hopes of turning his life around. In time, a community of kind, positive, “like-minded” sea swimmers began to emerge, all supporting the same cause. At the end of the month, he raised nearly €3300. 

    One year later, Movember Ireland invited Galvin to be an ambassador to promote positive mental health among men and women. His daily Instagram posts about his sea swims continue on throughout this month with a time and a location encouraging others to join along. 

    Toughen-Up Mentality

    Kevin Sharkey is a returning participant of Movember, also advocating the charity’s message about prostate cancer awareness within men.

    Sharkey understands that there is still a stigma attached with men discussing their mental and physical health which Movember aims to change. The organisation allows men to use social media as a platform to discuss their own struggles and to get rid of the taboo that is so prominent in society. He continues to say that with a bit of online investigation, someone silently battling their own thoughts, “can find people who have had the same or similar issues and hopefully can find help and realise that they are not alone.”

     “Being a ‘man’s man’ should mean something different in this day and age. We need to make it mean something different, like being a man’s man means you are there for friends, open and honest about your feelings and health.”

    The Movember spokesperson also mentions that the supposed ‘masculine’ traits like strength, resilience and resourcefulness are displayed by men and women. However, those who subscribe to the stereotypes of masculinity are typically in danger of having poor mental health.

    “Previous research has shown that men who subscribe to the traditional stereotypes of masculinity –the ‘toughen up’ mentality -are at higher risk of poor mental health and suicide. Men aren’t always comfortable talking about what’s going on in their heads. If they are struggling in silence and don’t ask for help until it’s too late, then that is a serious problem.”

    “One of the ways Movember is trying to tackle this issue is to get men to understand what good mental health looks like, challenge outdated stereotypes about what it means to be a man and make it okay for them to open up and get the support they need.”

    Since 2003, the organisation has funded more than 1,250 innovative men’s health projects across three areas: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. The Mo Community continues to grow while also raising awareness across Ireland.