Ageing probably has a significant effect from about forty on, before that decline in ability is due to loss of fitness from the modern environment, dominated by the car, the desk job and the Internet so even for people like Roger Federer who can continue to train full time there is a turning point but the shape of his life course, depicted in blue, is the same as that of the average citizen who gets their first job in the early twenties and by the of forty has already spent two decades sitting.
Best possible rate of decline due to ageing alone
People in their forties and fifties are of course often very active with work and family but they need to start thinking about the future because one of the effects of ageing is loss of resilience which means that they lose fitness even faster as a result of inactivity and too many Zoom meetings with every year that passes.
In the fifties and sixties, people are starting to look ahead at their life journey, in part because of 'retirement', a term we would prefer to see replaced by a term like renaissance because, as Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton describe in their stimulating book The Hundred Year Life we now live a life of multiple phases rather than a three phase life of childhood, adulthood and retirement. So in these decades after sixty people need to start thinking about the decades to come, the decades of Extra Time the title of the book by Camilla Cavendish which describes the trends affecting the decades after 50 because people from 50 on should plan and prepare on the assumption that they will reach 90. Not all will of course but it is very unwise not to plan.
Throughout the programme, the learner would be preparing their action plan based on:
What he or she would like life to be like in their eighties and nineties and
What they dread or fear might happen and want to avoid happening and then
Make a plan with purpose
The modules are listed below:
Understanding ageing
Closing the fitness gap
Preventing and coping with disease, preparing for the new risk factors – isolation and loneliness
Understanding and changing how people think about ageing
Adapting to the changing brain and mind
Preparing a plan with purpose
Improving strength
Improving suppleness
Improving stamina
Improving skill
Increasing brainability and reducing your risk of dementia
Living well and dying well, reducing the risk of a bad death
Lesson breakdown
Understanding ageing Key messages
Ageing is a normal biological set of processes which does not cause major problems till the nineties
The principal effects are reduction in the maximum level of ability and loss of resilience or reserve
Ageing starts in childhood but does not become the dominant biological process till the late thirties, the decline observed by most people before that age being due to loss of fitness
Most major problems experienced by people as they live longer are due to loss of fitness, disease and ageist beliefs and attitudes
Improving physical fitness Key messages
It is almost always a decline in fitness that starts the decline in ability not ageing
Fitness has four dimensions – strength, stamina, suppleness and skill
Increasing fitness becomes more important every year and with every diagnosis
Preventing and coping with disease Key messages
The increase in the prevalence of disease as people live longer is mainly due to their environment rather than the ageing process and can be reduced
The effects of disease are often complicated by accelerated loss of fitness
Healthcare is what individuals do for themselves and everyone should know their NHS number and hold their own record
Understanding and changing how people thinking about ageing Key messages
Beliefs about people who are older are often wrong and under estimate ability and potential
Hostility may be increasing because of concerns about older people’s use of carbon, pension rights and protection during Covid
Attitudes towards older people are too pessimistic
People generalise about older people in ways that would be considered unacceptable if made about other sub groups in society
Understanding the changing brain and mind Key messages
People can form new connections in the brain at any age,
The effect of normal ageing on reducing the brain’s ability has been greatly over emphasised
Dementia is not just accelerated normal ageing
Alzheimer’s disease is not the only cause of dementia, there are other causes which can be influenced to reduce the risk of dementia which has got less common in the last twenty years
Maintaining a sense of purpose and developing a positive plan Key messages
Understand the importance of purpose
Know about the different types of purpose
Think of ways in which you can strengthen the sense of purpose
Have developed a plan based on what they want to achieve and want they want to achieve
Developing strength and power Key messages
There is some loss of muscle mass and strength as a result of ageing but the principal cause is loss of fitness
Muscle mass and strength can be increased at any age
People with long term health problems are even more likely to lose muscle strength but can also regain strength and mass
Maintaining and improving skill & co-ordination Key messages
Decline in ability to co-ordinate move either intentionally or as a reflex eg after a stumble is the result of loss of fitness and not simply due to ageing
New circuits can be formed in the brain at any age because of what is called the brain’s neuroplasticity
Everyone needs to challenge their brain by daily exercises and by learning new skills
Increasing stamina Key messages
Stamina is the ability to keep going for longer and only a little of the reduction observed is due to ageing
You have to get a little bit breathless for about thirty minutes every day to improve stamina
The improvement in stamina occurs in the muscles’ ability to use oxygen rather than in the heart or lungs
Increasing suppleness Key messages
There is some loss of suppleness and joint mobility as a result of ageing but the Principal cause is loss of fitness
Suppleness can be increased at any age
Exercises to increase suppleness should be part of everyone’s daily routine
Increasing brainability and reducing the risk of dementia Key messages
Alzheimers disease is not preventable but there are moany other causes of dementia which are
The brain can be strengthened at any age
There are three steps that can be taken , protect the brain tissue. Keep the blood supply healthy and engage purposefully with other people
Reducing the risk of a bad death Key messages
It is important to think about, and talk with other people about, living well and dying well
It is not possible to guarantee a good death but it is possible to reduce the risk of a bad death
The most important step is to discuss this issue with friends and family
The preparation of an Advance Directive and giving Power of Attorney to someone else is recommended
