We live in an ageing population with more and more people surviving
into their 70s and beyond. By 2050, it is estimated that 43% of
Europeans will be over the age of 60. Due to medical advances, most
older people are just as fit and active as when they were younger,
making 50 undoubtedly the new 40!
Compared with our grandparents’ generation, modern
50-year-olds no longer expect to work their entire life and retire
at the age of 65 to potter in the garden or take up a sedate hobby.
The ‘job for life’ culture is disappearing and many
people are choosing to retire early, or to take on a second career.
Youthful vigour will not last forever, and it can come as a shock
to realise just how insidiously the ageing process creeps up on
you. Fifty is not too young to start preparing for future health,
so you can make the most of your free time in later life.
Benefits of physical exercise
Exercise has a number of beneficial effects on long-term physical
and emotional health. It: Lowers cholesterol levels, triglycerides
and blood pressure. Can reduce the risk of developing a type 2
diabetes, stroke, a heart attack and even certain cancers. Reduces
anxiety and tension. Improves energy levels, concentration and
sleep quality. Stimulates release of brain chemicals (endorphins)
that reduce pain perception, promote relaxation and lift your
overall mood and sex drive. Strengthens bones.
Taking regular exercise can also prolong your life. A study of more
than 10,000 men found that exercise reduced the number of
age-related deaths from all causes by almost a quarter - even if
exercise was not started until middle age. In particular, deaths
from coronary heart disease (CHD) were reduced by over 40%,
independent of other risk factors such as overweight, high blood
pressure or smoking cigarettes. Always start an exercise programme
slowly, building up the length and intensity as you get fitter. Aim
for at least 30 minutes of brisk exercise five times per week - and
preferably every day.
Tips: To increase your physical activity levels,
painlessly
Walk or run up stairs rather than taking the lift or escalator.
Choose one evening a week when you don’t watch TV - go to the
gym, kick a ball around or go cycling/ swimming with family or
friends. Take up an active hobby such as ballroom dancing, bowls,
swimming, golf, rambling, cycling or horse-riding and make new
friends. Dig out an old skipping rope, pogo stick, trampoline or
other exercise equipment you once bought to gather dust; use it
while watching the evening news. Walk or cycle reasonable distances
rather than taking the car. Cycle or walk to a local park or a
country pub at the weekend. When staying at home, put more effort
into DIY, cleaning and gardening. Reinstate the old tradition of a
family walk after Sunday lunch - kick leaves, skim stones, throw a
frisbee and have fun!
Benefits of mental exercise
As you get older, it is natural for your memory to become less like
a filing cabinet and more like a sieve - facts get harder to store
and retrieve. To boost memory power, exercise your brain - do
crosswords or other word/number puzzles regularly, write down your
memoirs or read books that stretch you. Games such as Scrabble or
Trivial Pursuit are excellent for testing memory skills.
Tips: To boost your memory
To remember an important fact, keep repeating it silently to
yourself. Write memory-jogging notes of things to do and place them
within easy sight. Try to learn at least one new fact, or memorise
a snippet of poetry, every day. Associate a fact to be remembered
with a visual image, eg when introduced to someone who is an
artist, picture him or her holding an enormous painting brush. If
the name is Baker, picture them eating a large loaf of bread. The
more outrageous or unusual your images, the easier you will
remember them. If you can’t recall someone’s name, try
to remember where you met them, what they were wearing, any unusual
physical characteristic or mannerism and what you talked about -
this will often jog your memory. Think up a mnemonic involving the
first letter of each word when remembering a list. A good example
is that used to remember the colours of a rainbow: Richard Of York
Gave Battle In Vain (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo,
Violet). It is easier to remember the sentence and work out the
colours, than to remember the colours alone. If you keep losing
something (eg keys) form a mental photograph of where they are
every time you put them down. Get plenty of rest and sleep.
An anti-ageing diet
Eating your food raw seems to be the best way to absorb dietary
nutrients for an optimum, anti-ageing effect. As well as avoiding
the heat-destruction of vitamins, enzymes and other beneficial
substances, the body is better able to digest and absorb nutrients
in their raw state.
Tips: To gain the optimum anti-ageing protection from your
food
Choose organic fruit and vegetables as much as possible. Eat fresh
produce, consumed within a day of purchase. Eat at least three
servings of fresh fruit per day. Eat at least three servings of raw
or lightly steamed vegetables per day. Eat a large raw-food salad
per day, including as wide a variety of plants as possible, eg
avocado, fennel, chicory, mixed baby leaves, watercress, spinach,
grated carrot, peas, tomato, cucumber, sweetcorn, grated beetroot,
grated broccoli, nuts, seeds etc. Avoid foods that are smoked,
pickled or salted. Cut out all polyunsaturated fats, margarine,
vegetables shortening and hydrogenated fats - only use extra-virgin
olive oil or rapeseed oil.
For those who love their food, it is disappointing to learn that
calorie restriction prolongs life by 10% to 300% in animals.
Unfortunately, staying lean and eating a high-antioxidant,
low-energy diet is still one of the best ways known to slow the
ageing process.
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