Better with age

25 Jul 2016

A healthy lifestyle is the key to staying fit, active and vital, so you can make the most of retired life.

Whether you’re two years old or 92, we’re all ageing at the same chronological rate. And while we can’t stop the clock, there’s plenty we can do to ensure we are healthy and vital, at any age.

“There’s a biological process of ageing that we’re all experiencing, so we want to minimise risks that accelerate that process, such as being too sedentary and not getting enough cognitive or social stimulation,” says Professor Kaarin Anstey, Director of the Australian National University’s Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing. In turn, a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of (or even prevent) some of the seemingly inevitable side effects of ageing, such as weight gain, a fuzzy memory, weak bones and chronic diseases. If you know your lifestyle has room for improvement, where do you start? “You don’t have to tackle everything at once,” assures Dr Elizabeth Cyarto, Healthy Ageing Stream Leader at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). “Start with one healthy lifestyle change, or set some goals around how you’d like to see yourself a year from now, whether it’s physically, socially, or cognitively, then do what you need to do to get there.” Here, your guide to ageing positively.

1 Staying in shape It’s often assumed that getting older means saying goodbye to the trimmer shape of your youth – but according to Anstey, weight gain isn’t inevitable. “It’s true that your metabolism slows down a bit, but you can counteract it with lifestyle changes, and by perhaps eating a little less and exercising a little more.” 

Nutrition-wise, eating whole, unprocessed foods at every meal will automatically ‘crowd out’ less healthy foods from your diet. In terms of exercise, the national guidelines recommend people over 65 get at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, swimming, dancing or tennis) most days of the week. “If you’re used to more intense physical activity, you should continue if you’re able to,” encourages Cyarto. Even taking up exercise later in life is beneficial, with one UK study finding that people who start exercising in their sixties or older are more than three times as likely to be healthy agers (avoiding major chronic disease or cognitive impairment) compared to those who stay inactive.

2 Protecting your brain As we age, certain cognitive functions naturally decline, but on the flipside, some increase. “Speed or reaction time is one that declines, partly because we’ve got so much more in our heads, but our vocabulary and knowledge improves,” says Dr Nicola Gates, psychologist and author of A Brain For Life. Dementia, which describes a collection of neurocognitive disorders that affects almost one in 10 people over 65, is entirely different from regular age-related cognitive decline, but in both cases, there are things you can do to stay sharp for longer.

As well as not smoking and moving more, giving your brain a workout is important. “The key thing is novelty or challenge,” advises Gates. For instance, you could pick a topic to research on the internet and become an expert on it, sign up for a community college course, or go for a weekly drive to explore a different suburb.

3 Maintaining strong bones Our bone density gradually declines from around age 45 onwards, so maintaining our ‘bone bank’ reserves is vital to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, which is estimated to affect 23 per cent of women and six per cent of men over 50.

Our calcium needs increase from 1000mg a day to 1300mg for women over 50 and for men over 70, so make sure your diet includes plenty of calcium-rich foods (think dairy, canned salmon and sardines, almonds, tofu and dried figs). Getting regular bursts of sunshine is also important, as vitamin D (the ‘sunshine vitamin’) helps our body absorb calcium.

Exercise is another way to safeguard your bones – in fact, hip fractures have been found to be as much as 38-45 per cent lower in people who are physically active. 

Aim for a mix of weight bearing exercise (exercise done on your feet so you bear your own weight), resistance training and balance activities, under the guidance of an exercise professional. 

4 Staging a disease detour Chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia become more common with age, but while we can’t change our genetics, we do have control over our lifestyle. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 80 per cent of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, and more than one third of cancers worldwide, could be prevented by eliminating smoking, an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and excessive drinking.

“Even if you’re not able to avoid a chronic condition entirely due to genetic factors, you can minimise the impact or delay the onset with a healthy lifestyle,” adds Cyarto. She suggests taking the NARI Healthy Ageing Quiz, which can be found online, which reveals whether your current lifestyle is helping you age well. “It covers nutrition, activity, weight management, optimism and social connection, with tips on how to improve,” she says.