It was Ralph’s fault. Settling his weary limbs into the chair and taking his first sip of a cooling drink after we’d come off a long afternoon on the cricket field, he said: “It’s between 50 and 60 that you notice it.”
“Notice what?”
“Your body – it just doesn’t perform like it did.”
As a spritely 40-something, I smugly thought: ‘Yes, but it won’t be like that for me …’
The years went by, I turned 50, 60 … and gradually it dawned on me: Ralph was right – damnit. And I start to worry: ‘Is this it? Am I really getting old and’ – whisper it – ‘past it?’
At least, I told myself, I’m not alone.
A new survey commissioned by Age UK reveals that three-quarters of adults between 50 and 65 worry about staying healthy as they age, and two-thirds fear that they will lose their independence as they get older. Yes, they know they should exercise more, but a variety of concerns deter them. These include finding the time, finding the money (a gym membership doesn’t come cheap), fear of making matters worse by injuring themselves, and plain embarrassment. (I can relate to the latter, having struggled to hold a series of poses in a class surrounded by yoga bunnies half my age, moving like silk over polished glass).
