LIVING How getting a gym habit can save our health

going to be some issues.

We can’t do much about primary ageing, but we can delay secondary ageing (the result of lifestyle factors) and slow the potential onset of disease.”

Dr Harper, who has a special interest in the influence of exercise and nutrition on agerelated decline of muscle function, says older people should be focussing on weight-bearing and resistance exercise, because muscle mass loss (sarcopenia) is a natural consequence of ageing.

Maintaining muscle is important for all sorts of reasons - it improves metabolic health (how our bodies function), keeps bones strong (cutting down hip fractures), reduces insulin sensitivity (thereby lowering the risk of diabetes) and may even help to prevent the early onset of dementia.

As Dr Harper says: “Dementia is another big problem we’re going to face as the population ages. Research is still going on into the benefits of exercise, but there have been some very positive findings so far.” So what type of exercise is best? Aerobic activities such as cycling, rowing, running or swimming can help to improve muscle mass as well as providing a work-out for the heart because they get muscles working against a resistance.

Swimming is a good option for people with mobility issues or conditions such as osteoarthritis. Studies have shown that people in their 70s and 80s can build muscle mass, but there’s no getting round the fact that muscle becomes harder to hold on to as we get older. Dr Harper adds that simply carrying heavy shopping bags, digging the garden or shovelling snow count as strengthening exercises. For those not keen on the gym he says try walking up flights of stairs instead of taking the lift; take up dancing; or walk to and from the shops. What about nutrition? As we age our ability to use the nutrients in our food declines and we need more protein in our diets to maintain muscle mass. A younger adult needs a recommended daily 20g to 30g of protein, while an elderly person should have 30g to 40g. It’s also likely that many older people in the UK don’t get enough Vitamin D, an important nutrient for all sorts of essential bodily functions. NHS Choices recommends older people should take a supplement from September to April when they won’t be able to get sufficient Vitamin D from natural sunlight. Former football referee Ken Shaw, from Dalton, has been a sportsman and gym user at Kirklees Council facilities for 44 years, and is living proof of the benefit of exercise in later life. At 72-years-old, despite suffering from severe osteoarthritis in his hips, he has the blood pressure and resting heart rate of someone much younger (the last time it was taken by his doctor it was 132/90 and 65 respectively – within the normal range). A regular at the Spenborough Pool and Fitness

I’d make it mandatory for everybody to go to the gym.

Complex, Ken plans to continue using the gym well into his 80s, and beyond, because it makes him feel “fit, well and healthy’’.

Having made strenuous efforts to maintain his own health he believes, quite firmly, that others should do the same.

As he explained: “I meet a lot of people who’ve only started taking exercise and looking after themselves after they’ve had a health problem; a heart attack or stroke. I’d make it mandatory for everybody to go to the gym.”

The former textile worker goes to the gym three times a week, using resistance machines such as the rower, leg press and arm bike, for which he pays £5 a week for Kirklees Active Leisure membership.

Ken, who is registered disabled and walks with the aid of sticks – the result of old injuries from playing football when he was younger – also has nerve damage in a hand caused by an industrial accident.

But he doesn’t allow his disabilities to get in the way of his fitness regime. And, as he says, “It’s important for me to keep my thigh muscles strong so I can walk because I can’t have a hip replacement because of all the scar tissue I have.

“According to the X rays I’ve had, I shouldn’t be walking at all because my hips are so bad.”

A non-smoker and only an occasional drinker, Ken also watches his diet and says it’s packed with healthy vegetables and salads. But it is exercise that has been his mainstay. As he concludes: “Everyone should stay active, it’s had such a positive impact on my health.

“I share my story with everyone as motivation to others. If you have an hour free, why not work on your health?”