Men on a Mission: How life can be so much more

The Men on a Mission campaign champions a positive approach to physical and mental wellbeing among men – showing how active, social outlets can change lives – while addressing patterns of unhealthy alcohol consumption in men from their fifties onwards.

Every day, men across the UK show how enjoying and extending their golden years can all start in a Shed. And former boxer Tony Bellew has joined these amazing Shedders to call for men to ‘make being well a mission’ as part of the campaign by DRINKiQ and the UKMSA.

What’s going on with older men?

Having more time to ourselves is often seen as rare and precious. For some people, that is a distant dream in the future. But life can move fast. Children fly the nest. Work winds down. Many people might experience loss. Divorces. Illnesses. And that sense of mission might dwindle.

For many men across Britain, as they get older, time once spent active and together can become time spent a little more idly. On the couch. Or at the pub. And for many, one or two drinks one or two days a week can become three or four drinks three or four days a week. And that can add up.

Older men, according to public health data, are more likely to drink more alcohol, and drink alcohol more frequently, than other age groups, whether male or female. Indeed, while it may not be seen to be extreme by society, some 32% of men aged 65-74 drink to ‘increasing risk’ levels, defined as more than 14 and up to 50 units per week, with 29% of men aged 55-64 consuming to that level too.

And what characterises the alcohol consumption patterns of those cohorts of older men is higher frequency of drinking in terms of occasions per week, compared to others.

But life can be so much more, as highlighted by DRINKiQ’s collaboration with the UKMSA.

‘Grab life by the scruff of the neck’

DRINKiQ campaign ambassador Tony Bellew was keen to spread the message, having seen up close the positive impact of Sheds at Bootle Tool Shed in Liverpool.

Tony leant his voice to the Men on a Mission campaign, starring alongside men from across the country, including those whose involvement in their local sheds has helped them improve their mental and physical wellbeing, and even reassess their own relationships with alcohol. The campaign set out to inspire men to consider embracing social outlets, like Sheds.

Something particularly important given data from the UKMSA, suggesting that just one in five men (22%) aged 50-75 report ‘hardly ever or never’ thinking about their mental wellbeing – far more than women of the same age (14%), and well over double the proportion for younger men (9% of 18-49s)².