Ageing With Attitude: Take small steps to stay healthy as you age

Don’t beat yourself up if you have let your new year resolutions slip, instead stay motivated by treating each day as a new start, Dr Claire Parker tells Margaret Jennings.

NOW that we are well into February, how are those new year resolutions going?

Are you puffed up with pride — you’re doing so well, instead of puffed from lack of exercise?

Or are you bashing yourself for having fallen by the wayside way too soon?

We have never been better educated about what, why, where, and how we can age healthily, yet it’s part of human nature to be less than angelic about our good intentions, regardless of how many decades we’ve lived.

It’s OK to let that angelic halo slip off, or even wear it lopsided, as long as we keep trying.

It’s our attitude — staying motivated to do the best for ourselves as we age that matters, says 61-year-old retired GP and medical researcher, Dr Claire Parker.

Let’s take exercise, as an example — one of the major influences in helping us age well mentally and physically.

No doubt it was top of many older people’s list to get moving more for 2016.

“First of all I would say ‘fantastic and well done, for starting and giving it a try’,” says Dr Parker.

“Most of us recognise that sometimes we start out with lots of enthusiasm and that wanes a bit. Pick it up again when you’ve lost interest.

"Each day is a new start. Don’t waste your energy beating yourself up. Just keep starting — pick it up again and again.”

Making a small start that’s doable and achievable, works well, she says.

People who can’t imagine doing 10 minutes a day exercising, can do two minutes first — even if that’s just getting up from sitting down and walking around.

“It’s more encouraging to break it down to achievable chunks that we can do.

"Motivation drains away when we feel defeated, negative, guilty, and often without hope.

"But making those little changes — and accepting who we are without self judging — can make a great deal of difference.”

Further advice on what to do when it “all goes pear shaped” is contained in Dr Parker’s new book, called Sod 60! The Guide To Living Well, which she has co-written with Muir Gray, a doctor who has held senior positions in the British health service.

The book is a very informative guide and takes a fun, rather than a preachy tone, about making good health decisions, as well as using simple steps to cope with lots of issues that crop up as we get older.

Dr Parker herself turned 60 when writing the book and, despite being a GP, it was a wake-up call to realise she did not always follow her own advice: “I wasn’t doing all that I could be doing for my own wellbeing.”

So what does she now do, for instance, regarding exercise?

“Probably the biggest change for me has been moving from sitting to standing at regular breaks.

"It sounds so trivial, but we spend a lot of our time sitting down and we now know how unhealthy that is.

"I realise that I do need to make keeping active a regular part of my day, just like eating healthily.

“Setting a regular time each day can be good and for me that’s first thing in the morning. So I get out of the house to do a little run for 10 minutes — and if I think about it too much I don’t do it, so I don’t think about it.

"Then I use a stretch band and do some stretching of my upper limb muscles for about 10 minutes. That may not work for everybody but it does for me.”

Some people might prefer to spread out the 10 minutes in what Dr Parker calls “little windows” throughout the day, doing little movements like going up on your tiptoes, stretching your arms, rolling your shoulders, practising balancing skills.

She herself does these every time she makes a cup of tea — which she admits is often.

The important thing is to bring the same focus to moving our body, as to eating, sleeping, and any other routine that we do unquestionably, she says.

Different things work for different people and we usually only persist with something if we enjoy doing it — which is why starting off small to build that routine, is what the doctor orders!

* Sod 60! The Guide To Living Well is published by Bloomsbury, €11.93

SILVER SURFER

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AGEING QUOTE

That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.

The Sixty Minute Grandparent: Becoming the Best Grandparent You Can Be, by Rob Parsons, €10.35

This book claims to make you a good grandparent in one hour flat! It probably depends on how quickly you read — and, more importantly, how quickly you absorb the advice that Parsons, the author of other ‘Sixty Minute’ books, gives.

With that 60-minute framework though, the guide quickly gets to the subject matter; avoiding the pitfalls and embracing the joys of becoming a grandparent.

Some of the issues it covers are: the baby stage: helping out without interfering; how to help your own children find their way as parents; loving your grandchildren without spoiling them; when to intervene, and when to keep out of it.