Ageing With Attitude: Hit the road to enjoy peak energy levels
TURNING 65 once marked the onset of old age, a time when people began to withdraw from the world of activity and work.
But the current generation of people aged over 65 are more fit and active than previous generations ever were.
Just ask any of the 300 older people from all over Ireland who attended Age & Opportunity’s Go for Life Games at Dublin City University on June 6.
Now in its fourth year, this annual event is the culmination of a year-round programme of fun sporting activities for older people.
Noel Carey, from Tower in Blarney, first got in involved with Age & Opportunity in Cork when he retired.
“I’d been in the Army and then worked with Waterford Crystal and because I was always interested in sports, I thought it would be a good way for me to stay active,” says Noel.
“That was back in the 1990s.”
He trained as a PAL, a physical activity leader, so that he could lead groups in different activities.
“‘Be Alive, Be Active’ was our motto back then and we certainly lived by it,” he says.
“I did courses in how to instruct various exercise programmes, from warm-ups to exercises that help with better balance and strengthen the limbs.”
As one of more than 1,200 PALs in Ireland, Noel worked with active retirement groups, members of the ICA and other gatherings of senior citizens in Cork. He has seen things change a lot in his 15 years.
“There’s been an amazing transformation in the attitude of seniors,” says Noel who is now in his 70s.
“The days of older people sitting at home by the fire are almost gone. It’s all about staying fit and active and part of the community these days.”
He thoroughly enjoys all of the classes he’s involved with, especially the ones involving music and dance.
“We all have happy memories of dancing at the dance halls when we were young and you’ll hear lots of laughter at our dance classes,” he says.
“It brings back great memories and it’s always lots of fun.”
He enjoyed attending the games in Dublin too, although as the team manager, he had a lot to coordinate. “There were 12 of us playing 12 matches and I had to be ready to step in to cover anyone at any time,” he says.
The Cork contingent competed in all three of the Go for Life Games, which Age & Opportunity runs in association with local sports partnerships and the HSE.
They went up against other counties in games of lobbers (a target game adapted from boules), flisk (adapted from horseshoe pitching), and scidils (adapted from ten-pin bowling).
While the games were physically challenging, what Noel enjoyed most was the element of fun.
“At this age, the competitive edge has gone,” he says. “It’s not all about winning any more. It’s more about meeting other people and having a bit of a laugh.”
Even though Noel makes it sound easy, the idea of the effort involved in getting fit and active may be off-putting for some.
This is where Age & Opportunity’s FitLine comes in. It’s a telephone-based service that encourages older people to get active by telling them about clubs, groups, and facilities in their areas and by giving them simple tips for ways to bring more healthy activity into their lives.
Marie Brock, 64, from Sandyford in Dublin is a FitLine mentor. She started out as a PAL and then decided to volunteer to join FitLine. “It’s a great scheme,” she says.
“Anyone can sign up for it and once they’re in the system, we’ll call them up for a chat every two weeks.”
The aim of the chat is to find out how the older people are getting on with their exercises and to encourage them to take part in more fitness activities.
“We encourage them without being too pushy or domineering,” says Marie. “You have to do it in a nice and friendly way.”
What she likes most about the service is the conversations she has on the phone.
“They’ve signed up for the service so it’s not like we’re an intrusion in their day. They’re usually pleased to get our call and have an opportunity to chat about their exercises and about all sorts of things, not just being active.”
FitLine has already proved to be of help to people who wanted to feel healthier but didn’t have the time or know-how to go about it. Marie can testify to this.
“I really see the benefits. It gets people out of the house who wouldn’t have gone out otherwise. I know one woman who goes to one of our exercise classes and she stays for a creative writing class afterwards. That’s great to see.”
FitLine is a free service to anyone over 50. It operates in Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Meath.
Freephone 1800 303545. For more about Age & Opportunity’s fitness programmes, see www.ageandopportunity.ie
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, has found a lot of reasons for Ireland to be happy. Its recent ‘Quality of Life in Europe’ study looked at the various factors that impacted on our lives, particularly as we age.
Based on research undertaken in 2013, Irish residents were the most satisfied with the quality of their health. Only 3.6% of us were dissatisfied, the lowest level in Europe.
This good health may be linked to the fact that we have one of the highest life expectancies in the EU, at 81.1 years.
Even more cheeringly, we appear to get happier as we age — unlike many other EU nations, where life satisfaction decreases with age. Those aged over 65 reported the highest happiness levels of all.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have made a new discovery that may revolutionise our understanding of neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s.
They have found that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by meningeal lymphatic vessels that were previously thought not to exist.
“In Alzheimer’s, there are accumulations of big protein chunks in the brain,” said Jonathan Kipnis, Professor in the University of Virginia Department of Neuroscience.
“We think they may be accumulating because they are not being efficiently removed by these vessels.”
He also noted that the vessels look different with age so the role they play in ageing is another avenue to explore.
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