Health experts recommend doing one habit that will 'improve quality of life' as you age
10.08.2023 - 15:21
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Getting older should be seen as a privilege, as it allows us to spend more time with friends and family, creating memories and doing things we love.
But unfortunately, we can be faced with an array of different health problems as we get older, meaning many people will spend the last few years of their life in poor health.
However, experts say that there are a few things we can do to help make ageing easier and improve the overall quality of our lives, and not all of them are related to diet and exercise.
To help dispel some common myths about ageing, a recent episode of the ZOE health podcast featured leading geriatrician Dr Rose Anne Kenny from Trinity College Dublin who was keen to share her advice.
She joined host Jonathan Wolf, CEO and co-founder of ZOE health, to speak about healthy ageing - which Jonathan described as "very exciting" as it had never been covered on the podcast before.
Starting off, Rose Anne named what she believed to be the "biggest myth" about ageing - which is that it's inevitably an unpleasant process.
She said: "It's not true. Quality of life consistently in a number of longitudinal studies gets better as we get older."
And according to the experts, one of the key things you can do to have a happier life in older age has nothing to do with what you eat or the amount of exercise you do.
Loneliness can be a real problem in older age, but Rose Anne says this can be combatted by dipping in and out of work-related activities can be really useful - and volunteering is a great example of this.
She said: "Those who volunteer on a regular basis have a better quality of life, less physical illness and less depression."
What's more, the expert says that volunteering or doing other work-related activity means