Claire Stewart, Liverpool John Moores University, @CEStewartPhD
It is essential that the population ages healthily to prevent overburdening health care facilities and ensure society reaps the potential benefits from an increasingly older population. The UK population aged 65 and over has increased from 13% to 16% in 30 years and is expected to rise to 23% in 2031 (Office for National Statistics).
In recent years commitments to achieving healthy ageing have featured heavily in government policy, however often the practical implementation of these directives remains elusive.
The UK Government’s recently published Industrial Strategy identifies “the needs of an ageing society” among the four grand challenges facing the UK. However, in my view, it is not clear what those needs are.
While reference is frequently made to those over the age of 65, it could be argued that the current population in this particular demographic is likely significantly healthier than those who will be in the 65 year old bracket 20 years from now. In 2015, 58% of women and 68% of men were overweight or obese, with associated chronic health issues prevailing through adulthood. Furthermore, the National Child Measurement Programme reports that 1 in 5 children in reception and 1 in 3 children in year 6 are already overweight or obese (95% of eligible children were measured), suggesting that a life course approach is needed to assist healthy ageing.
As a consequence of increased lifespan in the face of reduced healthspan, i.e. the years living in good health, we have a duty now to determine the impact of lifelong, lifestyle and associated chronic ill health on the ageing process, if we are to improve healthspan in an ageing nation.
In an ageing era and particularly where high density food intake and sedentary lifestyles prevail, we see a rapid decline in the physiological, functional and metabolic performance of skeletal muscle. The loss of muscle mass, quality and strength with age (sarcopenia) has profound consequences for quality of life, disability, morbidity and mortality, reflecting the central role of muscle not only in physical performance, but also metabolic function and health. As immobility increases, a downward cycle of declining health and performance, compounded by inactive adults reportedly having reduced cognitive function prevails. Therefore we need to investigate and model the impact of lifelong sedentary behaviour, culminating in chronic ill health in our current younger generations, if we are to effectively improve the healthspan of an ageing nation.
Given the potential for lifelong health, is it sufficient that the questions relating to older life health are only addressed in those over the age of 65? Do we not have a collective duty of care to establish novel approaches which determine mechanisms of lifelong health and well-being if we are to reduce the crippling demands on hospital/carer resources and preserve quality of life?
Current research across the globe, focussing on mechanisms underpinning the ageing process, using models from cells to rodents to humans will begin to determine key intervention points to enhance the life in our years, not simply the years in our life.
The recent report by The Physiological Society: “Growing Older Better” is a useful resource of some of the current research undertaken/needed to improve quality of life. It is my firm belief that a repository of research across ageing disciplines, which if modelled appropriately, will begin to define critical stressors that impact negatively on the ageing process and enable directed, educated programmes/interventions, implementable across society, to facilitate healthy ageing.