A growing number of men – around 10.8M globally – are facing life with a prostate cancer diagnosis. Globally, testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men. Across the world, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day, with males accounting for 69% of all suicides.
Movember is uniquely placed to address this crisis on a global scale. They fund ground-breaking projects worldwide, engaging men where they are to understand what works best and accelerate change.
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide.
The Noosa Men’s Shed's very own Mark Quilter (Quilts) has jumped at the opportunity to grow a mo and support a worthy cause.
As per the attached photo, you will see he is having a red hot go, and the ask of you is to consider sponsoring him in his endeavours to grow some facial hair and, at the same time supporting a very worthy cause.
Donations can be made here:
The Be Fitter program has recommenced. Obviously, there have been some changes in the way we organize the activities, however, participants will still gain the benefits of a tailored physical activity.
The program will be conducted in the Long Shed, commencing at 6:45am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings each week, and concluding a little before 8:00am. We will move into the Health Annexe as soon as it becomes available.
As before, it will consist of a warm-up, some stretches, a series of exercises designed to target specific body parts, endurance, strength and power, and finish with a cooldown and relaxation session.
You will need to bring:-
- Your own mat – we have a number of mats that I can make available to those unable to get one
- Your own water bottle
- Your own bicycle tube for dynamic exercises. I will supply one for you the first time you arrive, which you can turn into your ‘pet tube’ for the duration.
Because of the need to control numbers of participants, it is important that you notify Owen Curtis – Phone 0447654663 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you intend to come along. In the first instance, we will be able to cater for 10 members, although that will change as restrictions are lifted.
Social distancing will be expected of participants. Hand sanitizer will be available for use at the sessions.
Attendees will need to sign in, providing your phone number for Covid19 tracking purposes.
I look forward to seeing all of the Be Fitter members and any newcomers on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the future. New members will need to speak with me and have a medical clearance from the Doctor in order to attend our program.
Cheers,
Owen Curtis
Hearing loss is permanent! - Keep what you still have.
On Tuesday 19 November 2019 Nick Parkyn from Bloom Hearing Specialists spoke about hearing loss or, more importantly, how to keep what we still have.
Nick Parkyn and the Shed's Owen Curtis at the Health Talk
Hearing loss is related to exposure to noise energy over time. The national workplace standards define the maximum allowable noise exposure as 85dBA for 8 hours. 85dBA is approximately the sound level of a hair dryer. If the noise energy is doubled the dBA increases by only 3 dBA and the exposure must be halved to remain compliant. It's important to note that double the noise energy will not sound twice as loud, it is a modest but noticeable increase in volume.
There are a number of ways to reduce the noise energy reaching the ears, the most obvious one in our control is hearing protection. In a work situation there are rules and the foreman enforcing use of hearing protection. In the shed, or at home, it's up to us to exercise the discipline of maintaining our hearing. There was some discussion on how to manage this at the NMS, i.e. how to warn others that you are about to operate loud machinery. No conclusion was reached other than we don't want to be too prescriptive but rather let members take on the responsibility themselves.
Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is a common complaint among the more mature crowd common in the shed. This is an indication of hearing damage and a simplified explanation is the brain increasing the sensitivity to make up for the hearing loss causing the background ringing sound. In some cases use of hearing aids will allow the brain to reduce the sensitivity back to normal levels reducing the tinnitus.
Nick covered a number of other topics including hearing aids and cochlear implants, however the main thrust was emphasizing that loss is permanent and we need to protect what we still have. He left a number of resources for further information including a fact sheet called Noise, Hearing Protection and You. Additional information is also available on the Bloom Hearing website.
