07 May Active Lives helps to boost happiness & health in later life

Centre for Ageing Better, Age Positive Image Library, RS8694, Mark Epstein

Live Longer Better; you can’t argue with any of those sentiments, and hundreds of people have now attended the courses in Torbay to give them their best chance of achieving Healthy Ageing.

If ageing is a state of mind, then we can all do something about it. Believing it can actually help you age better. Your preconceived notions about age can directly influence your actions and mental wellbeing. Research shows that your state of mind is not something that naturally deteriorates with age but is actually something you might have more control over than you thought.

Mindsets have a surprisingly powerful effect on both how we experience ageing and how our bodies respond to it. Here’s how:

1. Biological Impact: Studies show that people with a positive view of ageing live 5 years longer on average than those with a negative view. Optimism and purpose are linked to lower stress hormones, better immune function, and reduced risk of heart disease.
2. Cognitive Health: Believing you can continue learning and adapting as you age (a growth mindset) is associated with better memory, sharper thinking, and a lower risk of dementia. Negative stereotypes about ageing, on the other hand, can actually impair performance on memory tests in older adults.
3. Physical Activity: People who see ageing as an opportunity rather than a decline are more likely to stay physically active, which in turn slows many aspects of biological ageing.
4. Social Engagement: A positive mindset encourages social interaction and curiosity, which are both key predictors of longevity and happiness in later life.
5. Self-fulfilling Prophecy: If you believe that ageing means decline, you’re more likely to withdraw from activities and challenges, leading to a faster decline. If you believe you can stay vital, you’re more likely to take actions that reinforce vitality.

In short, your mindset doesn’t stop time but can dramatically change how well you live as the years pass.

Our Healthy Ageing – Active Lives – Live Longer Better courses that take place in Brixham, Torquay and Paignton throughout the year aim to tackle preconceived ageist mindsets and present practical steps that you can use to live the best life you can.

It empowers and encourages you to set realistic goals to move forward positively to support your health and wellbeing. It provides the opportunity to focus on yourself and your loved ones.

Key messages from the course include focusing on yourself, feeling good physically and mentally, finding fun activities you enjoy, and making time for social connections. It also encourages you to age positively and live with purpose, while challenging you to try new things, create realistic plans and goals, and change attitudes and perceptions.

Over the course of eight weeks, lives are changed for the better:

Week one – understanding ageing. Preventing and coping with disease.

Week two – understanding and changing how people think about older people.

Week three – reducing the risk of a bad death, stressing the importance of purpose and planning

Week four – improving physical fitness through increasing suppleness

Weeks five and seven – concentrate on new activities with a variety to try

Week six  – increasing stamina by developing strength and power.

Week eight – increasing brain ability and reducing the risk of dementia.

The results are staggering, with participants reporting that their lives are transformed with better health, a more positive attitude, reduced GP visits and bourgeoning friendships.

One person who recently completed the course revealed: “I was very low and considering ending it all. I was sitting watching television all day and felt I would be better off dead.

He has now taken up dancing and said, “This course came along at the right time, and I was encouraged to feel worthy. I am not a worthless person.”

Another is now actively recruiting others to take part, having learned that you need more exercise as you grow older, not less and has taken up Nordic Walking: “I am now in a much happier place as a result of this course and I am doing more exercise than when I was working. I tell everyone about it.”

One noted with a wry smile: “It is not the fact you forget your keys that is a problem; it is when you forget what to do with them. It has changed my outlook, and I now exercise and am careful what I eat”

To find out more, contact Jess Slade – [email protected] or give her a call on 07772 023170. You can also visit the Active Lives page on the Torbay Assembly website.