How can we support greater physical activity in an ageing society?
Our Chief Executive, Dr Carole Easton OBE, appeared before the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee today to discuss physical activity in an ageing society.
Here she explains how helping the population to be more physically active is much more than gyms and leisure centres.
Does it work when someone tells you, or you see online, that it would be better for you if you took more physical exercise? Maybe yes, but for many the answer to this question is no.
One of my tasks as this charity’s Chief Executive is to give evidence at parliamentary select committees, hopefully to broaden understanding and awareness of our work with MPs and ultimately to create positive change. This is something I have done on numerous occasions, and I was very pleased to be giving evidence this week to the Health and Social Care Select Committee for their inquiry Healthy Ageing: physical activity in an ageing society.
Speaking before me at the evidence session was the eminent Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, who became a familiar face during the pandemic and continues to advise the government on health issues. His report, Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2023: health in an ageing society, shone a light on a range of important issues and particularly the need to ensure people stay healthy for as long as possible.
We know now, that keeping moving is a crucial contributor to healthy ageing. I say “now” because the research and the associated messaging have not always been this way. People over 60 now will have grown up in a society where the importance of “rest” was the prescription for many ailments. I can still recall that someone with osteoarthritis or back pain would have been told to stop moving – not keep moving!
There has been considerable investment in raising the awareness levels of the benefits and need for physical exercise. But it is not enough just to keep pushing out ads or publicity that encourages everyone over “a certain age” to take more exercise, to build balance and strength. There is so much more to it.
There is much evidence to show that older people least likely to keep moving are in poverty, living in deprived areas, from groups suffering from systemic racism, living in poor housing. Those most likely to keep moving are more privileged and are also the people most likely to respond to messaging and publicity aimed at the general population.
So in order to improve the health of those who need it most, it is crucial that other factors are addressed. We need houses that are safe and warm, that are accessible to people with disabilities so that they can easily get in and out and can move around within them; we need affordable transport systems that encourage people to combine walking or cycling with longer distance travelling; we need toilets and seats so that people can feel confident when they are out and about; we need pavements that are uncluttered and cycle lanes that are well maintained. It is not just about gyms and swimming pools!
Addressing physical activity also means addressing internalised ageism, ie the views that people have of themselves as older people. Internalised ageism can lead people to think that going to a gym is not for them; or being older means not moving and taking it easy and resting; or believing that people will judge them for doing things like dancing. We know through polling we have done for our Age Without Limits campaign that nearly one in three people over the age of 50 avoided or limited physical activity because of their own expectations or what they anticipate the response of others is likely to be.
I recently joined a gym. Honestly, I hate the environment. It is dark, the music is loud and definitely not what I would choose. The vast majority of the people in the gym are 30 or 40 years younger than me. And it has stairs to get to the toilet! It is most definitely not age or disabled friendly.
But gyms, and classes and “exercise” are not for everyone. Movement, balance and strength building can be. We need to make sure that we take into account people’s real lives and how movement can be incorporated into them.
And we cannot expect older people to start moving if we do not address the bigger picture of their lives. And to make sure this happens, we need a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing. This role could enable joined up thinking to improve the homes and environments in which older people live and to encourage commissioning of effective interventions such as improved transport.
We also need employers to do what they can to encourage their workforce to keep moving. This does not mean spending money – it means offering, wherever possible some flexibility in the working day so that people can take time out for their health.
I hope the MPs I spoke to this week will take on board what I and my fellow experts on the panel say. If they do, they may well include it in their final report, one of scores published by parliamentary committees every year, and maybe government will act upon their recommendations. It is a long process to delivering important change. But it is change we have to see, for the good of all of us if we want an equal opportunity to age well.
