Men's health and sport: testicular cancer, prostate, mental health

What sport does, and does not do

Prostate cancer: physical activity is not an established factor. The World Cancer Research Fund, which reviews the whole literature, grades the link between physical activity and prostate cancer « limited, no conclusion » (2014 report, revised 2018). The factors it retains as probable lie elsewhere: body fatness for advanced disease, and adult height. That is a clear difference from breast cancer, where the same body judges it « probable » that regular activity protects after the menopause (see the Breast health guide). So we never write to a member that sport protects against this cancer.

Testicular cancer: no sport is to blame. A US study found no link between cycling, vigorous activity or sedentary time and this cancer (Littman, 2009). Cycling, the usual suspect in changing rooms, does not raise the risk.

Mental health: team sport counts, without anyone being able to say it cures. A 2013 review concludes that club or team sport is associated with better mental health than activity done alone, while stating that the studies cannot establish the cause (Eime, 2013); a 2026 review in young people reaches the same caution. The International Olympic Committee's 2026 consensus recalls that mental health symptoms and disorders are common among athletes, elite ones included. A club is not a place of care. It is a place where people talk.

Testicles: know what is normal for you

In France, testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 35, about 2,300 cases a year (INCa). In Switzerland it is the most common cancer in men under 40, about 480 cases a year (Swiss Cancer League). In Germany, the most common malignant tumour between 25 and 45, about 3,900 cases in 2023 (Zentrum für Krebsregisterdaten, RKI). In the United Kingdom it is not among the twenty most common cancers (Cancer Research UK): « the young men's cancer » only holds with the country's own age band. It is very treatable: in Germany, 97 % of men are alive five years after diagnosis.

No authority in our countries recommends routine examination, by a doctor or by oneself; the US Preventive Services Task Force even advises against it (grade D, 2011). The NHS advice is simpler and more useful: know what is normal for you, and see a doctor if something changes. The signs that warrant a visit, as the NHS publishes them: a lump or swelling, a feeling of heaviness, a pain or discomfort that does not go away, a change in size or shape. No step-by-step technique here: that is not a club's job.

One piece of kit, often forgotten: of 731 young US athletes surveyed, 18 % had already had a testicular injury and 13 % wore a cup (Bieniek, 2014). In sports where the rules provide for it, the cup belongs in the bag, like shin guards.

The prostate: each country's position

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in every one of our countries. None of the countries where Paak has clubs runs a screening programme; each publishes a position, read on 28 October 2026. So the message to a member is not « get tested ». It is « screening has benefits and limits; if you are wondering, especially if a close relative has had this cancer, talk to your doctor and decide once informed ».

Two figures in circulation do not hold: « one man in eight » comes from an English study of 2008 to 2010 limited to White men; « no country has a programme » stopped being true when England decided its own and sixteen of Sweden's twenty-one regions started organised testing (Bratt, 2025). A figure without its country and its year is not information.

Mental health: the club as the place where people talk

Team sport is associated with better mental health (Eime, 2013). A trial run in 44 clubs with 704 teenage boys, using the Movember foundation's « Ahead of the Game » programme, measured more resilience and a stronger intention to seek help after a few sessions (cluster randomised trial, 2026). Programmes run in Scottish and European professional clubs for overweight men produced lasting changes in weight and activity (Hunt, 2014; Wyke, 2019). The club is a setting that works for men, provided nobody lectures them.

One detail matters before writing to members: men do not « refuse » to see a doctor. The crude 32 % gap between men and women in consultations falls to 5 to 8 % for the same condition (Wang, 2013). An invitation works better than a reproach.

What a coach can do fits in one sentence: after training, check on each other. If someone is not well, listen without judging and point them to their country's listening line. One per country, read on its official page:

The figures exist and we give them once, without turning them into a slogan: in 2022, 6,925 men and 2,275 women died by suicide in France (Observatoire national du suicide, February 2025); in Germany, 7,846 of the 11,334 people who died by suicide in 2025 were men (Destatis); in England and Wales the male rate is 17.5 per 100,000 against 5.5 for women (ONS, 2025). The WHO and Samaritans guidelines are clear on how to talk about it: no shock figure, no single cause, no method or place, and instead say where to find help and tell the stories of those who asked for help and came through (the Papageno effect, Niederkrotenthaler, 2010). The suicide and testicular content is not for the club's minors; for them, talk to the parents.

During and after cancer

For fatigue, strength, function and quality of life, the evidence is sufficient to recommend avoiding inactivity after cancer, with a studied dose of 30 minutes of moderate activity three times a week (Campbell, 2019). In men on hormone therapy for prostate cancer, supervised exercise probably improves quality of life and walking capacity (meta-analysis, 2021). What the studies do not say: that people live longer. The large international trial meant to measure it was stopped at 17 % of its recruitment, without a result (INTERVAL-GAP4). In France, adapted physical activity is prescribed by a doctor (public health code, L1172-1); a club session is sport, not care. A club is not a place of care, but it can be the place people come back to.

What a club can do in November

1. Inform all members, without targeting. One message, to everyone: it also reaches partners, parents and friends, who are often the ones who push a man to see a doctor. No « men over 50 » segment: that would be profiling, and a new use of licence data.
2. Leave a moment to talk at the end of one session this month. Nothing to organise.
3. Remind young players what is normal for them and when to see a doctor, and the cup where the rules provide for it. The detailed content goes to the parents, not to the minors.
4. Raise money, if the club wants to, directly with Movember. The foundation runs a sports challenge for clubs (already open in France, Switzerland and Germany) and the « Move », 60 kilometres walked or run in the month. Registration is on its site and the donations go to it directly. Its rules for third parties: you may name the campaign and support it; you may not call your event « official », sell goods with its branding, or promise a share of sales without a written agreement.
5. Stay fair. Do not make the month an argument to sell memberships; if the club raises money, state the amount and the charity that receives it; record nothing about a member's health, anywhere; ask both parents before publishing a minor's photo; and keep alcohol out of it: in France the loi Évin bans an alcohol brand from sponsoring a club's sports event, in Switzerland spirits advertising is banned at sports events, in Belgium the 2024 convention bans any link between alcohol and sport or health. « Mo » parties in bars are the campaign's culture, not a club's.

In Paak

On every plan, including the free one. In November, the Training page shows a card « November, men's health at the club » with these five gestures, your country's position on prostate screening, your country's age band for testicular cancer and your country's listening line. The club's administrators find there a message ready to send to all members, with no advertising, with official sources, to read over and adapt before sending, a link to Movember's own site for clubs that want to raise money, and a link to Partners to record the action with the number of people reached.

In the member space, a November card says the same thing in one sentence, with the listening line of the club's country. Nothing is stored about a member's health: there is no box, no tag, no filter, and Paak touches no donation. The card disappears on 1 December; this guide stays.

Sources

• World Cancer Research Fund / AICR, Continuous Update Project, Prostate cancer report 2014, revised 2018, and Diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer: a global perspective, 2018.
• Littman A. et al. 2009, Cancer Causes & Control, PMID 19399630 (physical activity and testicular cancer).
• Eime R. et al. 2013, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, PMID 24313992; 2026 review in young people, PMID 41814431.
• IOC consensus statement on mental health in athletes, British Journal of Sports Medicine 2026, PMID 42580854.
• « Ahead of the Game », cluster randomised trial, 2026, PMID 42716331.
• Hunt K. et al. 2014, The Lancet (FFIT), PMID 24457205; Wyke S. et al. 2019 (EuroFIT), PMID 30721231.
• Wang Y. et al. 2013, BMJ Open, PMID 23959757 (men's consultation rates).
• INCa, Cancers du testicule: l'essentiel (2 June 2022); Dépistage du cancer de la prostate (6 November 2025); Panorama des cancers en France 2024; ameli; HAS 2012.
• Swiss Cancer League, Hodenkrebs (8 June 2021) and Prostatakrebs (February and 29 October 2025); KCE, study 2024-10; Belgian Cancer Registry; G-BA, press release 1290 of 16 October 2025; Zentrum für Krebsregisterdaten (RKI); UK National Screening Committee, Prostate cancer (March 2026) and GOV.UK (2 June 2026); Cancer Research UK; NHS, Testicular cancer symptoms (2 April 2024).
• US Preventive Services Task Force 2011, screening for testicular cancer, grade D.
• Bratt O. et al. 2025, Scandinavian Journal of Urology (organised testing in Sweden).
• Bieniek J. et al. 2014, Journal of Urology, PMID 25432843 (injuries and cups).
• Campbell K. et al. 2019, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, PMID 31626055; exercise and hormone therapy meta-analysis 2021, PMID 34489536; INTERVAL-GAP4, PMID 41561488.
• DREES, Observatoire national du suicide, February 2025; Destatis, 9 October 2026; ONS, 13 October 2026; WHO, Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals, 2023; Samaritans, media guidelines; Niederkrotenthaler T. et al. 2010, British Journal of Psychiatry, PMID 20807970.
• Listening lines, official pages read 28 October 2026: 3114.fr; 143.ch; preventionsuicide.be; zelfmoord1813.be; telefonseelsorge.de; telefonseelsorge.at; samaritans.org; sanidad.gob.es (Línea 024).
• Movember Foundation, Global Annual Report 2026; « Keeping it legal », « Le défi sportif Movember », « Move » pages; WIPO Madrid Monitor IR 1106394; INPI, French mark FR 5267321 « Novembre Bleu ».
• French public health code, articles L1172-1 (adapted physical activity) and L3323-2 (loi Évin); Swiss Alcohol Act, art. 42b; Belgian convention of 9 October 2024 on alcohol advertising; French civil code, article 372-1 (minors' image).