Health

How to stay fit after 50

Regular exercise can help reduce the impact of diseases such as osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Any form of exercise is good for you. Try to find activities that can be part of your daily routine, such as chair based exercises, walking to the shops, or things that are fun, such as dancing or playing bowls.

If you haven’t been very active, you should aim to minimise the amount of time you spend sitting down for extended periods. You could do this by reducing the time you spend watching TV, take regular walks around the garden or street.

Warm Up – It takes longer to get your muscles working properly as you get older because the various systems take a little longer to fire up. So always perform a light five min warm up first.

Mix it up – Don’t keep doing the same thing day in day out. Change your routine regularly. If you lift the same weights or walk at the same speed all the time you won’t get any stronger or fitter. Incorporate some interval training, combining high and low intensities, or classes into your fitness programme.

How long? You need to exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes to reap any benefits so aim to work out for 30 minutes to 45 minutes each time. As you get fitter you can increase this to a hour.

Work your core – As we age our core strength suffers, which can result in bad posture and a sore back, hips and knees. So make sure that you incorporate some core strengthening exercises twice a week.

The following websites are for more general health and wellbeing information and advice:

The experts NHS Choices Website.

Change for Life information and advice for you and your family regarding food and activities.