Men’s Health Week 2021

Men's Health Week 2021

In the UK, one man in five dies before he reaches 65. Men are also twice likely to die from COVID-19 than women and are less likely to seek help for medical or mental health issues.

The theme of Men’s Health Week 2021 is the CAN DO Challenge. This week-long challenge is designed to get everyone (especially men) thinking about ways to boost your wellbeing. The Men’s Health Forum has identified five key factors that contribute to wellbeing: connecting with others, being active, noticing the environment around you, discovering new things, and offering support to others. The CAN DO Challenge encourages men to use these five themes and try new things to improve their mental and physical wellbeing.

Ian Bell, Head of Learning Disabilities at NCH&C, offers some great suggestions for CAN DO Challenge activities under the five key themes…

• Connect: Contact a male colleague for no other reason other than to say “hi, how are how are things.” Usually, when we ask people how they are, it’s a precursor to a work conversation. I think men are particularly bad at this sort of thing (but I’d be happy to be wrong about that).
• Be Active: I know many of us became more active as a way of coping with lockdown, so this is a good opportunity to keep up those good habits. Since the weather is warm, try to think twice before hopping into the car.
• Notice: Being outside and closer to nature has been proven to be good for our health. I do an early morning bike ride twice a week and you really feel the benefit, not only of being active but noticing your environment, the changing scenery, seeing wildlife you miss sitting indoors or in the car.
• Discover: Switch up your local walk, run, or cycle route. You could discover something exciting just around the corner in your local area.
• Offer: Here, you could tie all the above points together. Reach out to a friend, family member or neighbour you haven’t spoken to or seen for a while and walk/run/cycle with them.
• I would also promote https://12th-man.org.uk/ as a brilliant local men’s mental health resource, which ticks many of the boxes above if you were to join their 12th Man cycle rides.