This year, to mark Men’s Health week 2024 (June 10th – 16th) Irish rugby star Rob Kearney joined a Men’s Health Week Webinar hosted by HSE Health and Wellbeing in conjunction with the National Centre for Men’s Health in SETU, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland and the Men’s Development Network as part of a drive to encourage men to take a proactive approach to managing their health.
During the webinar he urged men to look after their bodies, saying his “biggest regret” from his international career was not getting over 100 caps due to damage sustained as a younger player. He spoke about how recognising vulnerabilities was “hugely important” as was being yourself, no matter the environment. He called on men to learn about their physical and mental health. He said small changes could make a big difference, adding “the more information you have, the better equipped you’ll be at making some of those changes in your everyday life”.
It is not only about playing at a high level — a walk or run can become a daily habit within two week to improve your health, he added.
When it comes to mental health, he said recognising and talking about vulnerabilities was “hugely important”. Something he credited Andy Farrell (Ireland Head Coach) for emphasising as part of his coaching philosophy.
He said barriers created by preconceptions of what “a big male environment” should be are being broken down. He also discussed resilience, saying some skills learned in sport can be taken for granted at the time, but how resilience can help overcome setbacks.
“We can find ways to navigate through those setbacks and it’s really important to take stock after you have, and to look back and say ‘I was going through a really bad time there, difficulties for some reason or another, but I found a way to come through”, he said.
Dr Alan Smith, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, called on men to tackle the risk of bowel cancer, as this is the second most common cancer affecting men. As well as speaking to the men attending the webinar he sought support form people working with men to support an increased in engagement with the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, for which 250,000 men are invited to participate each year but achieves only 40% update. More information on Bowel Screening can be found here: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/bowel-screening/screening-information/
Other speakers urged men to ‘Know Their Numbers’ as part of the Men’s Health Week campaign that saw HSE Health and Wellbeing engaging men across the country in a variety of community and health service settings to support and advise them on various health and wellbeing topics.
