Five Daily Habits That Support Healthy Ageing
Healthy ageing is built less by occasional big efforts than by the small things you do most days. These five habits need no gym and no special equipment, and each one supports a different part of staying capable.
Monday's article, What Does Healthy Ageing Really Mean?, explored the idea of reserve, the capability you have to spare beyond what daily life asks of you, and why it narrows so quietly. If you have not read it yet, it is worth starting there. Today's article puts that into practice, with five habits that help keep your reserve topped up.
Pick one or two to begin with rather than all five. A habit you keep for a year is worth more than five you try for a week.
Five Habits Worth Building
1. Carry Something Most Days
Carrying is one of the most useful everyday forms of strength work, and one of the first things we tend to hand over to trolleys, wheels and other people.
Look for chances to carry rather than wheel:
use a basket instead of a trolley for a small shop
carry the shopping from the car to the kitchen, split evenly between both hands
fill the watering can properly and carry it to the far end of the garden
bring in the logs, the recycling or the laundry basket yourself
Stand tall as you carry, with your shoulders relaxed rather than hunched. The load should feel like effort by the time you put it down, but never painful. Carrying also loads the bones of the hips and spine, which Bone Health After 50: What Keeps Your Skeleton Strong explains in more detail.
Easier version: carry lighter loads, more often. To progress: carry the same load a little further.
2. Get Down to the Floor and Back Up
Getting up from the floor is something many people stop practising in their fifties and sixties, then find difficult at the moment they need it, reaching under the bed, playing with grandchildren or weeding a low border.
Practising once a day keeps it familiar:
Place a cushion on the floor beside a sturdy chair or sofa.
Holding the seat for support, lower one knee onto the cushion, then the other.
To come back up, bring one foot forward so you are half-kneeling, with both hands on the seat.
Push up through the front leg, using your hands as much as you need, until you are standing.
Once a day is plenty. Easier version: use a firm cushion on a low step instead of the floor. To progress: lean on the chair a little less each week. If kneeling is painful, leave this one out for now and ask us about alternatives.
3. Include Protein at Every Meal
Muscle needs raw materials as well as use. Research suggests that spreading protein across the day supports muscle better than eating most of it at the evening meal, which is how many of us naturally eat.
Simple ways to spread it out:
eggs, yoghurt or a glass of milk with breakfast
beans, fish, cheese or chicken at lunch
a handful of nuts or a pot of yoghurt as a snack
If you have a medical condition that affects what you eat, check with your GP before making changes.
4. Make Contact With Someone Every Day
Research consistently links social connection with healthier ageing. Contact with other people also tends to bring movement with it, because it usually means going somewhere.
It does not need to be a big occasion:
a chat with a neighbour over the fence
meeting a friend for a coffee rather than sending a message
going to a club, choir, church or community group
offering to help someone with a job in their garden
5. Learn Something That Asks Something of You
New skills and new company keep both body and mind working in ways that familiar routines do not. Activities that combine movement with concentration are especially useful, because they ask you to think and move at the same time.
Good examples include:
a dance class, from ballroom to line dancing
joining our free Saturday walking group at the Sheringham clinic, which welcomes all paces
taking a Reformer Pilates class
bowls or croquet
a new craft or a musical instrument
It should feel a little unfamiliar at first. That is a sign it is doing its job.
Fitting Them Into an Ordinary Day
None of these needs its own slot in the diary. A day might include eggs at breakfast, floor practice before the evening news and carrying the shopping in from the car. The fifth can be a weekly class rather than a daily habit.
For a wider view of how these fit alongside strength, balance and mobility across the week, see our cornerstone guide, The Complete Guide to Healthy Ageing Through Movement.
Apollo Insight
The people most anxious about getting up from the floor are often those who have not tried it for several years. The worry grows in the absence of practice, and it tends to surface at the worst possible moment, after a slip or when something has rolled under the sofa. Practising deliberately, when you are calm and have a chair beside you, turns an unknown into something familiar. Many patients are surprised by how quickly it becomes easier once it is a regular part of the day.
This Week's Movement Tip
Three Brisk Minutes
On your next walk, give yourself five minutes at your usual pace to warm up. Then pick a landmark a few minutes ahead, a lamp post, a bench or the next field gate, and walk towards it a little faster than normal. Lengthen your stride slightly, let your arms swing from the shoulder and keep your head up, looking ahead rather than down at your feet. You should be breathing more noticeably and still able to talk in short sentences, but not to sing. Keep this pace for about three minutes, then settle back to your normal pace for the rest of the walk. Once a day is enough. When three minutes feels comfortable, add a second brisk stretch later in the same walk.
Before starting any new exercise programme, please consult your healthcare professional if you have any medical conditions, concerns or existing injuries. If you experience pain or worsening symptoms whilst exercising, stop and seek appropriate medical advice.
How Can Apollo Help You Build Habits for the Years Ahead?
If you would like help making lasting changes to how you eat, move and spend your days, our Lifestyle & Wellbeing service looks at the whole picture with you. Where pain or stiffness is making habits like carrying or getting down to the floor difficult, Osteopathy can assess what is going on and help you find a safe way forward. Explore our services or get in touch to talk through where to start.
How Apollo Health Collective Supports Healthy Ageing
Healthy ageing is about understanding your body, looking after it well and having the right support when you need it.
At Apollo Health Collective, we help people stay active, capable and independent through personalised, evidence-informed care. Our integrated approach brings together different areas of expertise to support movement, recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Our Sheringham clinic offers Osteopathy, Sports Therapy, Sports Massage, Clinical Exercise & Rehabilitation, Reformer Pilates, Podiatry, Biomechanics, and Lifestyle & Wellbeing services. We also offer Osteopathy appointments in Norwich and Coltishall.
Whether you are recovering from an injury, managing ongoing concerns, looking to improve your movement or simply investing in your future health, our team is here to support you.
