Life stage transitions involve changes in lifestyle and thus present key opportunities for behaviour change interventions. Our assessment of the literature shows that interventions with people of retirement age can effectively promote components of the Mediterranean diet (Lara et al, BMC Medicine Apr 8;12(1):60: 2014), physical activity (Hobbs et al, BMC Medicine Mar 19;11:75; 2013) and explicit social roles (Heaven et al, Milbank Q. Jun;91(2):222-87: 2013).