The Movember Blueprint: A Men’s Health Check-up Guide
Welcome to the first issue of the Live More newsletter. Each month we take one topic from our community that is most asked and dive deep into it, with a handy take-away pocket guide you can keep for your next appointment or pass to someone who keeps putting theirs off. November is Men’s Health Month, so we begin with Movember: why so many men wait, and the checks that find trouble while it is still easy to manage.
First issue, November 2026
Men’s Health Month
Pocket guide to save or share
Men’s check-ups from ฿4,500
- Many of the conditions that shorten men’s lives, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, prostate and testicular cancer and depression, develop quietly for years (WHO, 2025; American Cancer Society, 2026)3,4. A few well-chosen checks can find them while they are still easy to manage.
- Blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol are the silent three (WHO, 2025; American Diabetes Association, 2025)3,7. Knowing your numbers now makes any change easier to spot later.
- Low energy, poor sleep, low mood or low libido deserve a frank conversation. They can have a hormonal cause, and just as often the cause is sleep apnoea, weight or stress (Bhasin et al., 2018)11.
- Much of this month’s work needs no appointment: measure your waist, take a few home blood pressure readings, do a monthly self-check, and keep the pocket guide for when you do see a doctor.
A newsletter from the clinic
Each month Live More issues a newsletter, but not like what you’re used to receiving. It’s a single-topic, deep dive into the most common health challenges our real clients are facing and asking about daily, as observed by our doctors at Live More.
The information given in each newsletter is applicable whether you can make it to Live More or not. We just love education and staying up to date with the latest peer-reviewed and published research.
Every issue is reviewed by our medical doctors, and all claims are provided with a source, but the newsletter and its pocket guides are not intended to replace a doctor’s consultation and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with your practitioner before making any change to your health regimen.
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Why November is Men’s Health Month
Every November, Movember puts men’s health in the spotlight. It began in Melbourne in 2003 as a challenge between friends to grow a moustache for the month (the Movember story)19. It has since grown into a global charity whose funded work covers mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer (Movember Foundation)18.
The moustache is the conversation starter. The point of the month is the conversation itself: men talking about their health, and acting on it, before something forces the issue.
Why men wait
The reasons we hear in the clinic are the same ones the research describes.
“I feel fine”
Many men only see a doctor when something is clearly wrong. Across a wide range of health problems, men seek help and use health services less than women do (Schlichthorst et al., 2016)2. Feeling fine is exactly when a baseline is most useful.
“I’m too busy”
A check-up feels like a day lost. In practice the blood draw takes minutes. The part worth making time for is the conversation about the results.
“It’s not something you talk about”
Low mood is the subject men raise least: ideas about what a man should be able to handle alone hold many back from seeking help for depression (Seidler et al., 2016)20. In men, depression often shows up as irritability, anger, overworking or drinking more rather than sadness, so it is easy to miss, including by the man himself (Martin et al., 2013)15.
The gap it adds up to
Worldwide, women live about five years longer than men: an average of 73.8 years against 68.4 (Our World in Data)1. Many of the conditions behind that gap, high blood pressure and the heart disease it drives among them, can be found and treated early (WHO, 2025)3.
What early checks change
A check-up is not a verdict. It is a set of numbers you can act on, usually well before anything needs treating.
- Silent risks become visible. Raised blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol rarely announce themselves. Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide, and an estimated 44 per cent of adults who have it do not know (WHO, 2025)3. Found early, all three can be managed before they cause damage.
- Testicular cancer is found when it is most treatable. It is largely a disease of young and middle-aged men, with an average age at diagnosis of about 33, and it is usually treatable: the lifetime risk of dying from it is about 1 in 5,000 (American Cancer Society, 2026)4. Some doctors recommend a monthly self-check after puberty, and any lump or change should be seen by a doctor right away (American Cancer Society, 2025)21.
- Snoring gets taken seriously. Heavy snoring with daytime tiredness can point to obstructive sleep apnoea, which meets diagnostic criteria in roughly a third of middle-aged men and is closely linked with high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and heart disease (American Heart Association, 2021)5. It is treatable once it is named.
- You get a baseline. A set of results from a year when you felt well makes any change easier to spot the next time, and gives your doctor something to compare against rather than a single snapshot.
Know your biomarkers
These are the markers our doctors look at first in a man’s check-up, and why.
| Area | What we look at | Why it matters | At Live More |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metabolic health | Waist circumference, fasting glucose or HbA1c, triglycerides | Waist size adds to body-mass index in predicting the risk that comes with fat stored around the organs (Ross et al., 2020)6. An HbA1c of 5.7 to 6.4 per cent is the range the American Diabetes Association calls prediabetes, the stage before type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2025)7. | Fasting blood sugar and triglycerides in every panel. HbA1c in the Comprehensive. |
| Cardiovascular risk | LDL and non-HDL cholesterol, the cholesterol to HDL ratio, triglycerides, ApoB, hs-CRP | The number of cholesterol-carrying particles (ApoB) and non-HDL cholesterol describe artery risk better than total cholesterol alone (Sniderman et al., 2019)8. hs-CRP, a marker of inflammation, adds risk information comparable to cholesterol itself (Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, 2012)9. | A full lipid profile in every panel. hs-CRP in the Comprehensive. |
| Blood pressure | Clinic readings, plus a few home readings | Often silent, yet a leading driver of heart attack, stroke and kidney damage (WHO, 2025)3. Current guidance treats a reading under 130/80 as the goal for most adults (Whelton et al., 2018)10. | Measured at your consultation. |
| Hormonal balance | Morning testosterone, repeated if low, plus thyroid where symptoms suggest it | Low energy, low libido, poor sleep or low mood can have a hormonal cause, but also sleep apnoea, weight or stress. A diagnosis of low testosterone needs both symptoms and consistently low morning readings, never a single result (Bhasin et al., 2018)11. | Free testosterone, thyroid (TSH, free T3 and T4), cortisol and DHEA in the Hormone Check-up and the Comprehensive. |
| Prostate and testicular | A monthly self-check for lumps, and a PSA conversation from about 50, or from 45 with a family history | European urology guidance offers PSA testing to well-informed men from 50, and from 45 with a family history or African descent (European Association of Urology, 2026)12. The conversation matters as much as the test, because it weighs the benefit against the chance of finding a cancer that would never have caused harm. | PSA in the Comprehensive and the Hormone Check-up. |
Stress, mind and vitality
The link between mind and body is measurable. Long-term stress keeps cortisol high, and sustained cortisol excess is associated with higher blood pressure, fat around the middle, insulin resistance and raised blood sugar (Whitworth et al., 2005; van der Valk et al., 2018)13,14. The numbers in the table above are often the first place stress shows.
In driven, high-performing men, depression often looks like irritability, anger, overworking or drinking more rather than sadness (Martin et al., 2013)15. If that sounds familiar, it is worth saying out loud to someone, whether that is a friend, a partner or a doctor.
Protect your vitality
- 1 Sleep seven to nine hours The range recommended for adults by the National Sleep Foundation’s expert panel (Hirshkowitz et al., 2015)16. Loud snoring or waking unrefreshed is worth mentioning at a check-up.
- 2 Move most days The World Health Organization advises 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening work on at least two days (WHO, 2020)17.
- 3 Keep alcohol low Alcohol plays a causal role in more than 200 diseases and conditions, depression and anxiety among them (WHO, 2024)22. In people who drink more than two drinks a day, cutting down lowers blood pressure (Roerecke et al., 2017)23.
- 4 Stay connected Keep seeing friends, and talk to someone when the pressure builds. Across 148 studies, people with stronger social relationships had a 50 per cent higher likelihood of survival over the follow-up period (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010)24.
If you cannot get to the clinic
Most of what this issue asks of you needs no appointment, and none of it needs to happen in Phuket.
- Measure your waist once, midway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, after breathing out, and write it down with the date (Ross et al., 2020)6.
- Take your blood pressure at home on several different days, seated and rested, and keep the readings to show a doctor (Whelton et al., 2018)10.
- Do a monthly self-check in the shower, and have any lump, swelling or change seen by a doctor right away (American Cancer Society, 2025)21.
- Book a check-up wherever you are and take the pocket guide with you, so the conversation covers the right ground.
- Pass the guide on to a man who keeps putting his own check-up off. A nudge from a friend works better than one from a clinic.
The Men’s Health Pocketbook
A short guide to the signs that it is time for a check-up, the markers to ask about and the numbers to know. Save it to your phone for your next appointment, or share it with someone who needs it.
Men’s health at Live More
If you are in Phuket, or planning to be, our men’s check-ups are built around the markers above. Each package is a laboratory panel, and the results are best read with our doctor in a consultation so they can be interpreted with you.
Men’s Health Starter
฿4,500
16 tests
Annual essentials. Blood count, fasting blood sugar, liver function, lipid profile, kidney function, thyroid and vitamin D.
Men’s Health Comprehensive
฿14,000
35 tests
The complete picture. Every Starter test, plus HbA1c, full thyroid, cortisol and DHEA, free testosterone, growth markers, hs-CRP and homocysteine, and cancer markers including PSA.
Men’s Hormone Check-Up
฿6,500
9 tests
Hormone focus. Thyroid, cortisol and DHEA, free testosterone, estradiol, PSA and vitamin D.
Prices exclude the doctor’s consultation. The full test lists are on our men’s diagnostics page, and every test is also available on its own from the price list. If you would like to know what the results mean before you book, our article on what a health check-up tells you walks through a panel line by line, and if tiredness is what brings you in, why am I always tired explains how we look into it.
We are open every day from 8.30 am to 4 pm, five minutes from Laguna and Bang Tao, and visitors to Phuket are welcome to book a check-up during their stay.
Book a men’s health check
Message us on WhatsApp with what you would like to look into, and we will suggest the right panel and a time. If you are reading this from abroad, we are happy to answer questions all the same.
Common questions
What is Movember?
Is November Men’s Health Month?
How often should a man have a check-up?
Which blood tests matter most for men?
Can I have a check-up as a visitor to Phuket?
How do I receive the newsletter?
References
- Our World in Data. “Why do women live longer than men?.” ourworldindata.org, global life expectancy 2021: 73.8 years for women, 68.4 for men. View source
- Schlichthorst M, Sanci LA, Pirkis J, Spittal MJ, Hocking JS. “Why do men go to the doctor? Socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with healthcare utilisation among a cohort of Australian men.” BMC Public Health, 2016;16(Suppl 3):1028. View source
- World Health Organization. “Hypertension (fact sheet).” who.int, 25 September 2025. View source
- American Cancer Society. “Key Statistics for Testicular Cancer.” cancer.org, revised 13 January 2026. View source
- Yeghiazarians Y, Jneid H, Tietjens JR, et al. “Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Circulation, 2021;144(3):e56–e67. View source
- Ross R, Neeland IJ, Yamashita S, et al. “Waist circumference as a vital sign in clinical practice: a Consensus Statement from the IAS and ICCR Working Group on Visceral Obesity.” Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 2020;16(3):177–189. View source
- American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. “Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes: Standards of Care in Diabetes 2025.” Diabetes Care, 2025;48(Suppl 1):S27–S49. View source
- Sniderman AD, Thanassoulis G, Glavinovic T, et al. “Apolipoprotein B Particles and Cardiovascular Disease: A Narrative Review.” JAMA Cardiology, 2019;4(12):1287–1295. View source
- Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration. “C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and cardiovascular disease prediction.” New England Journal of Medicine, 2012;367(14):1310–1320. View source
- Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al. “2017 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults.” Hypertension, 2018;71(6):e13–e115. View source
- Bhasin S, Brito JP, Cunningham GR, et al. “Testosterone Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline.” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2018;103(5):1715–1744. View source
- European Association of Urology. “Prostate Cancer Guidelines: Diagnostic Evaluation (early PSA testing, section 5.2.8).” uroweb.org, 2026 edition. View source
- Whitworth JA, Williamson PM, Mangos G, Kelly JJ. “Cardiovascular consequences of cortisol excess.” Vascular Health and Risk Management, 2005;1(4):291–299. View source
- van der Valk ES, Savas M, van Rossum EFC. “Stress and Obesity: Are There More Susceptible Individuals?.” Current Obesity Reports, 2018;7(2):193–203. View source
- Martin LA, Neighbors HW, Griffith DM. “The experience of symptoms of depression in men vs women: analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.” JAMA Psychiatry, 2013;70(10):1100–1106. View source
- Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, et al. “National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary.” Sleep Health, 2015;1(1):40–43. View source
- Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. “World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020;54(24):1451–1462. View source
- Movember. “About the Movember Foundation.” movember.com, accessed 23 October 2026. View source
- Movember. “The Movember story.” movember.com, accessed 23 October 2026. View source
- Seidler ZE, Dawes AJ, Rice SM, Oliffe JL, Dhillon HM. “The role of masculinity in men’s help-seeking for depression: A systematic review.” Clinical Psychology Review, 2016;49:106–118. View source
- American Cancer Society. “Can Testicular Cancer Be Found Early?.” cancer.org, revised 10 August 2025. View source
- World Health Organization. “Alcohol (fact sheet).” who.int, 28 June 2024. View source
- Roerecke M, Kaczorowski J, Tobe SW, Gmel G, Hasan OSM, Rehm J. “The effect of a reduction in alcohol consumption on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” The Lancet Public Health, 2017;2(2):e108–e120. View source
- Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. “Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.” PLoS Medicine, 2010;7(7):e1000316. View source