Stay healthy in your 20s, 30s, 40s...

Men

Weight gain puts added stress on the heart, lungs, knees, hips, ankles and feet. Stretch, bend and extend your joints regularly.

Men and women

Can’t find time for the gym? Use public transport and then walk or cycle to work and back, and don’t work through your lunch break, take a walk instead. Schedule an eye exam every two years. Eyesight tends to begin fading in forties. Women

You may experience perimenopause, which is the time leading up to a woman’s last period.

Levels of female hormones begin depleting, influencing everything from mood to fat distribution to dry, itchy skin. Regular aerobic exercise and a visit to a skin doctor will help ease all this.

Exercise five days a week, go on a ‘low-calorie’ fruit/detox diet once a week, and don’t take contraception for granted by assuming that your fertility has gone down.

Lower your intake of sugar. Women over the age of 40 tend to become more insulin-resistant, and the risk of getting diabetes increases if you are overweight.

IN YOUR 50S... & BEYOND

As you age, your physical strength, energy and libido are affected. Retirement and empty nest syndrome can leave you feeling blue.

Men

Along with weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, get screened for prostate cancer, bowel cancer and osteoporosis.

Men and women

Begin your day with a walk. Resistance training and weight-bearing aerobics will help preserve bone density. Exercise your brain to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s. Do puzzles and mind workouts. Vigorous physical workouts at least twice a week also help reduce the risk of developing these two. Women

Once menopause begins, bone density rapidly decreases due to low oestrogen, so a bone density test every couple of years is important. Depletion of oestrogen may also destabilise heart health. Walking, swimming and running are great for preventing menopausal symptoms, including weight gain and mood swings.