Men's Health Week – Get your inner 'lad' back

Women from Sport Whanganui get behind Men's Health Week.

Men's health is everyone's responsibility.
Men's Health Week, June 14-20, is a good reminder that men are not alone in finding the support they need to live active lifestyles, which have a direct impact on health and wellbeing.

Sport Whanganui has partnered with organisations to bring some free fun for the lads.

Research shows even bite-sized activity can make a difference, and finding something that's fun to do helps with the motivation. Whanganui is lucky to have great indoor and outdoor spaces to get active in.

For Men's Health Week, Sport Whanganui's Active Wellbeing manager, Deb Byers, has collaborated with Splash Centre, Whanganui Rugby, Central Football, and Wanganui Badminton to offer free opportunities to get active.

Whanganui Rugby chairman Jeff Phillips describes his personal experience, saying, "My wife Taryn would say historically I have had a fairly loose attitude to both my physical and mental health, really only reflecting on health-related issues when things start changing or going wrong.

Personally, I found that the constraints on time and other distractions had shifted the focus away from my own health and wellbeing. Over the last year or two, with a lot of motivation from family I have become more proactive than reactive toward my health. Sport Whanganui is to be commended for running with this initiative and for promoting and raising awareness around men's health."

What's on offer is more than physical activity. It's a chance to spend some time with family or friends. Maybe it's catching up with a mate you haven't seen in a while. It's important to check in and spend time with our wider circle of friends, and because the activities are free, even better.

As well as the week of activities, during the month of June, Sport Whanganui's Active Wellbeing team is offering free "WOF" health checks for men, health packs and prizes. It's as easy as giving the team a call to book in for your WOF, and it takes no more than 20 minutes. The WOF measures height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels.

Thanks to the generous support of Jetts Gym, the first 20 health checks receive a month of free membership to the gym.

To the good people of the Whanganui community, let's encourage one another to stay active, stay connected, and get WOF health checks. We do it for our cars, right? We look forward to seeing men take up the challenge and making the most of a week that is all about men's health.

For more information on spaces and places to get active check out: sportwhanganui.co.nz/active-directory/