Christine Webber urges us all to do our bit to stay fit

The first thing is that there are a lot of us.

In the last four decades, the number of people over 50 in the UK has increased by 40pc and there are currently more than 10 million adults aged 65 or over.

By 2030, this age group will make up 22pc of the population.  

I don’t know about you but learning how many older people there are makes me doubly determined to keep myself as fit and well as possible.

Because unless we suddenly get a load more doctors and other medical professionals working for the health service, it looks as if there will be increasing competition to access help when we need it.

So, I think we all need to wake up to the idea that we should do our bit to keep well. Luckily, there’s masses of information to help.

For example, having read through various academic studies, much of what they recommend in order to age healthily, boils down to just a few points:   

1. Choose to be around positive people and those who support you
2. Laugh and surround yourself with people and situations and entertainment that help relieve stress
3. Practise turning your negative thoughts and comments into positive ones.
4. Keep active
5. Maintain a sense of purpose
6. Don’t drift - structure and schedule your days.  

According to Professor Sarah Harper, Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, society needs to look at older people differently and come to the view that “old people are people with the same potential that all adults hold”.

Obviously, it’s important that governments, employers and health professionals should think that way. But so should we.    

And one way of gaining more belief in our own potential is to become inspired by individuals who are well into old age but not letting it hold them back – the so-called “super-agers”.  

David Attenborough is a brilliant example, but there are plenty of others in the public eye who are still vital and working regularly despite their advanced years – Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench for instance.

Being active and continuing to contribute through work is a common component here – as it is for men and women in other walks of life too who quietly carry on working because they can and want to.

I’ve just read about 98-year-old Ivor Ward, who is probably the UK’s oldest employee.

He gave up work at 79 but his retirement lasted just one day as he found it intolerably boring.

He works 32 hours a week as a production operative for a pharmaceutical company.

And in his spare time, he plays poker and enjoys socialising and drinking with younger colleagues.

Earlier this year he told Leicestershire Live, “I know so many people who end up sitting at home all day. That’s deadly because you just end up getting up at 10am and sitting all day in your pyjamas”.

The other factors super-agers share is that they challenge themselves all the time both mentally and physically, have a good network of friends and family and if they drink alcohol at all, do so in moderation.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone who’s retired should go back to work.

But I suspect a significant proportion often consider it – not least because they worry about living on their pensions and savings.

There is, in fact, much more support nowadays for pensioners who want employment.

A good place to start is a website called Rest Less. This link takes you to a very useful page: https://restless.co.uk/job.

Often when you read articles in national newspapers about older people returning to the workplace, the emphasis is on the need to do so because of the economy.

But I believe just as many individuals seek employment because they have a desire to feel they’re in the mix and still useful. These are potent emotions.

Another important element in keeping well and positive is to be grateful.

Grateful people – individuals who can give thanks for their lives as they are, even if they have changed greatly through bereavement or retirement or other circumstances – have an optimism and energy about them that we all find attractive.

And they tend to be healthier than complainers and negative folk. 

I’ve also learned that many studies highlight the importance of belonging to some club or organisation that matters to us.

I see this all the time in my role of Chair at Norwich Chamber Music.

People come to concerts and love to feel an intrinsic part of the proceedings.

You can obviously experience that feeling elsewhere, perhaps through belonging to a church if you have religious faith, or a political party, or by being in a choir or community theatre group.

A sense of belonging is a boost to our spirits.  

There is so much we can do to try to age well – and if we don’t want to be part of some very dismal statistics, I think we should. Sometimes people of our age say they feel invisible. Just make sure you’re not one of them!