![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/centre-for-ageing-better-uqdynKhLIOg-unsplash-1500x0-c-default.jpg\")
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\n Our muscles, heart, lungs and balance systems respond really well to being used. Image: Centre for Ageing Better\n <\/p>\n
While all these reservations are understandable, they\u2019re mostly groundless: you don\u2019t need to don lycra or hit the gym to maintain a reasonable level of fitness as you age. Sure, you\u2019re not getting any younger, but as Dr Paddy Dempsey, a research fellow at the Australia-based Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition points out, people tend to overestimate the effect of age on their health. \u201cSome decline is natural, especially after our 30s, but a surprising amount is actually down to changes in lifestyle \u2013 especially becoming less active. Our muscles, heart, lungs and even balance systems respond really well to being used. Inactivity tends to creep in gradually, and the less we use it, the more we lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Age UK has launched its Act Now, Age Better<\/a> campaign. With the backing of England\u2019s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty and Age UK ambassador Helen Mirren, it encourages everyone to \u201cmove better for a later life\u201d. And simple steps, literally, make a difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Dempsey puts it: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to train like an athlete: walking more, climbing stairs, making sure you stand up after sitting for a while, a little gardening, they can all help\u201d. And they can be life enhancers \u2013 even life savers. \u201cStudies show improvements in strength, mobility, mental wellbeing and even reductions in disease risk when older adults begin moving more. Movement really can be \u2018medicine\u2019 (particularly in this day and age where activity is engineered out of our lives), and the earlier we make it part of our daily routine, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n Make walking worth it The key, he adds, is to \u201cfind something you enjoy\u201d. Exercise, in other words, should be pleasure, not pain.<\/p>\n That\u2019s music to the ears of Sarah Fussey, who as marketing director at walking holiday company Inntravel, is keen to find ways to encourage people to take up some of its walking and cycling holidays \u2013 at any age. These include some \u2018easy walking<\/a>\u2019 offers, which, with titles like A Stroll in the Pyrenees, could almost have been designed to match Dr Dempsey\u2019s prescription. Echoing his words, she says: \u201cIf you enjoy yourself as you move, it doesn\u2019t really feel like exercise \u2013 but you\u2019ll reap the benefits all the same\u201d. Forget the idea of \u2018power walking\u2019, Fussey adds, \u201cit\u2019s about experiencing beautiful landscapes that also gradually build up your health\u201d. <\/p>\n That\u2019s been the experience of Peter Charlesworth, a long-time Inntravel customer, who says his advanced years are no barrier to enjoying the sort of holidays Inntravel offer. He praises the You don\u2019t have to train like an athlete: walking more, climbing stairs, making sure you stand up after sitting for a while, a little gardening \u2013 they all help<\/p>\n Put that together, he says, and it means walking holidays in your more senior years \u201cdon\u2019t have So, if you\u2019re lucky enough to find yourself ambling along the coast of Lake Constance, say, or pottering among the vineyards of the Loire, you\u2019re boosting your prospects of a healthy old age. There are mental health benefits too: Fussey knows because her customers tell her so, but there\u2019s sound science to back it up, says Dempsey. Numerous studies show improvements in psychological wellbeing<\/a> after exercise.<\/p>\n \n Pottering among vineyards and getting your daily dose of fresh air \u2013 a satisfying combination. Image: Boudewijn Boer\n <\/p>\n \u201cIf you enjoy it, you\u2019ll keep at it.\u201d Dempsey\u2019s words are hugely reassuring. For me, that\u2019s cycling round town, a little solitary yoga (the wonders of YouTube videos spare me from feeling like the odd old man out in the classes) and, when I\u2019m feeling dynamic, some weights and pull-downs. But listening to Fussey, I\u2019m tempted to explore some (not so) serious walking again.<\/p>\n And my cricketing mate Ralph? He hung up his boots last year. Played his last game at the age of 80, scored a few runs, took two wickets, and only stopped because his club folded. He kept at it because he loved it \u2013 simple as that \u2013 and has reaped the health benefits throughout the decades.<\/p>\n So whether ambling through an Alpine meadow, strolling around Sark or, like Ralph, whiling away an afternoon in whites, movement in a way that brings you pleasure is proof that, sometimes, doing what you love can do you a power of good.<\/p>\n Main image: Anton Volnuhin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being active is a well-known strategy for warding off ill-health in your later years. Combining gentle exercise with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-37044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n At Inntravel, we lead the way in self-guided walking holidays. Whether it\u2019s a gentle stroll along the south Devon coast, or a hike between the hilltop towns of Tuscany, we help you discover remarkable destinations
\n Find out more<\/a><\/p>\n
company\u2019s \u201cexcellent [route] guide notes \u2013 you\u2019re never going to get lost, and [that means] you
can go on your own and at your own pace\u201d. Having the luggage taken on to your chosen hotel
helps too, he says. \u201cIt\u2019s stress-free walking\u201d, he adds.<\/p>\n
to be strenuous: you can easily do a few miles in the morning, have a leisurely lunch, and then a
few more in the afternoon, and you\u2019ve easily managed eight or so miles in a day. You don\u2019t
have to be super fit, but it really helps keep a base level to your fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/boudewijn-boer-qT515JdZNy8-unsplash-1500x0-c-default.jpg\")
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