How to Live Longer Better
  • Your journey
    • What is happening as we live longer >
      • Bad language about older people
    • Your monthly briefing >
      • 2025 4 april
    • The environment is tough >
      • Retirement has benefits and risks
      • Some people got a better start than others
      • the impact of isolation is now recognised
      • The physical environment is the cause of many problems blamed on ageing
      • Poverty affects too many older people
    • the Living Longer Better Programme >
      • what would a good life in your late 80s be likel
      • What do you fear most and want to avoid
      • Start to write your Living Longer Better Plan
      • Think positive
    • How to reduce your risk of a bad death
    • My diary & daily routine
    • My health record
    • My housing
    • Othercare - Supporting someone else
  • Learning
    • U3A
    • Ageing is a normal biological process
    • From 40 to 90 loss of fitness is serious
    • The effects of disease are often compounded by loss of fitness
    • Negative beliefs and attitudes have a huge impact
    • The importance of planning with purpose
    • The Ageing Brain and the Maturing Mind
    • Strength and Power can always be increased
    • Skill and co-ordination can be improved at any age
    • Stamina can be improved by brisk walking
    • Suppleness can always be improved and stiffness always reduced
    • Activity Therapy is of vital importance
  • Get physically better
    • the Daily Dozen + 30 for 4S fitness
    • Increase strength, stamina, suppleness and skill >
      • Strength
      • Stamina
      • Skill
      • Suppleness
      • Work hard
      • Restart cycling >
        • Virtual Cycling
      • Brisk walking >
        • Virtual Walking
      • Restart Sport >
        • Restart swimming
        • Restart tennis
        • Restart football
      • If you have difficulty walking briskly
      • Join a Gym or Wellness Hub >
        • Meet others for fitness >
          • Silver sneakers
          • Age UK Generation games
          • Join a Gym, Fitness Centre or Wellness Hub
          • Find a personal trainer
      • Find a Trainer
    • Look after your body >
      • Happy and Positive Birthday >
        • Sod 60!
        • Sod70!
        • Sod It! Eat Well
        • Sod Sittin, Get Moving!
      • Skin maintenance
      • Teeth and gum maintenance
      • Feet maintenance
      • Bone, joint and muscle maintenance
      • Bowel maintenance
      • Brain maintenance
      • Mind maintenance
      • Heart maintenance
      • Lung maintenance
      • Waterworks maintenance for men
      • Waterworks maintenance for women
      • See as clearly as possible
      • Keep your Hearing as acute as possible
  • FIGHT DISEASE
    • Reduce your risk of disease >
      • Eat Well
      • Stop smoking
      • Increase activity - physical, cognitive and emotional
      • Watch the alcohol
      • Accept the offers from the NHS screening programmes
      • We need a revolution
    • If disease occurs - Optimise Your Healthcare >
      • Making a big decision >
        • Should i have a hip replacement ?
      • Consequences of common conditions >
        • Loss of status
        • Disability and handicap
        • Isolation
        • Depression
        • Frailty
      • Look out for social as well as drug prescribing >
        • Enjoy Activity Therapy
      • What you can do to help the NHS even more
    • Arthritis
    • Cancer
    • COPD _ Bronchitis
    • Diabetes
    • Dementia
    • Heart disease
    • High Blood Pressure
    • Hypercholesterolaemia
    • Pain
    • Parkinson's Disease
    • Stroke
  • Think better
    • Train your brain ; we now know the brain can get fitter at any age
    • Understanding Dementia & Alzheimer's Disease
    • Reduce your risk of dementia >
      • Stimulate your brain more every year >
        • Learning new skills and build on your assets
        • Get even more engaged
      • Protect your brain >
        • Sleep better
        • Get more active
        • Avoid over medication
        • Control stress levels
        • Air pollution and dementia
      • Keep the oxygen flowing
  • Feel better
    • Combat depression
    • Combat anxiety
    • Stay engaged and don't lose your sense of purpose
    • Feel even better by helping other people even more
    • Meet others like you
    • Optimise the Internet >
      • My Virtual Reality
    • Join others for a Daily Service
    • Feel better by visiting Great Places >
      • Visit the great Museums
      • Visit the great libraries
      • Visit a National Trust treasure
    • Feel better through music >
      • Join a concert party
      • Your virtual choir
      • Music for Moving
    • Feel better by reading, listening and watching with other people >
      • Kindling Book Club >
        • Crime
        • Classics
        • Health
      • Audible Book Club
      • Your BBC
      • Your Film Club
    • Feel better by learning new skills and ideas
    • Feel better by joining a club to play games and meet others >
      • Chess Club
      • Bingo club
      • Bridge Club
    • Feel better by supporting nature >
      • Visit the great gardens
    • Feeling Better by Going Down Memory Lane >
      • Sporting memories are powerful
  • Our Mission
    • About Muir Gray
    • Muir Gray's Bookshelf >
      • Midlife
      • Sod60!
      • Sod70!
      • Get Moving
      • Eatwell!
      • Dr Gray's Walking Cure
    • About the OxAP >
      • Here is the news
    • References

You are in charge

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Learning
 
So, you've made it so far and how would you rate your health today, satisfactory, could be better or could be worse? Your present state of health is influenced by the journey you have been on, starting with the genes you inherited from your parents.  A few diseases run in families but more important is the fact that the genes we have all inherited are genes that have favoured survival for hundreds of generations who have had to be active all the time, chasing food or fleeing sabre toothed tigers and hostile neighbours trying to steal the little food you have managed to store for the winter.  In addition the genes that led to more efficient deposition of fat were also an advantage in helping people survive the winter. Two generations ago this all changed. We are now inactive as never before, thanks to the car, the computer, the desk job, the sofa and the TV, and we are surrounded by tempting calories, not berries on bushes but shiny packets at every check out.

​Income tax, bad weather and the normal biological process of Ageing - these are things that affect you that you would have preferred not to face. Things you cannot escape. But, you can minimise the impact that they have on your wellbeing and quality of life, and for this reason you should not ignore them. You need to understand what is going on and think about what might happen so that you can take action to minimise their impact. We now know that is what you need to do so that living longer can be better.


​Our mission is to collect best current knowledge about what you can do to prevent, delay, slow down or sometimes even reverse many of the problems which have hitherto been assumed to be caused by the normal ageing process, including the conditions we fear most - stroke, dementia and being so disabled you have to depend on others for the tasks of everyday life. You can search our web site but we are also making sure that every drug prescription is accompanied by an activity prescription using technology called W:ISH. to inform you not only about the benefits of physical and mental activity when disease has developed, but also about the opportunities, local and digital, best suited to your condition. We also offer the opportunity to learn in more depth about what is happening as we live longer and what we can do about it

LEARN WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU, AND HOW TO TAKE ACTION

 
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in laboratories to find the Elixir of Life,  a drug to slow down or reverse the ageing process – without success. It is certainly important to  understand that the normal ageing process can reduce maximum level of ability, the pulse rate for example, and resilience, for example  the ability to respond to a stumble or to a period of inactivity, but our review of the science is that ageing by itself is not a cause of significant problems till the later 90s. What us actually happening to you, and the scientific evidence about what you can is on  the linked page https://www.howtolivelongerbetter.net/what-is-happening-as-we-live-longer.html

WHO WE ARE 

Responsibility for the content of the site rests with Sir Muir Gray, director the Optimal Ageing Programme. He has worked on methods to improve health in old age for 50 years and published the first book on Prevention of Disease in the Elderly in 1984. He has done other jobs in his work for the NHS such as setting up all the national screening programmes but finding and providing the knowledge on how to live longer better has been his continuing interest and he was the first Chief Knowledge Officer of the NHS. He has published a number of books including Sod60! for people in their sixties, Sod70! for people in their 70s, 80s and 90s,a book on how to Reduce Your Risk of Dementia and Increase your Brainability and Dr Gray's Walking Cure. You can read more about the books on the linked pagewww.howtolivelongerbetter.net/muir-grays-bookshop.html

​He is also a member the Oxford Longevity Project https://oxfordlongevityproject.org/ whose
  • vision is a world in which all adults understand how they can best improve their healthspan and take action to do so and whose 
  • mission is to communicate the latest breakthroughs in longevity science and be a guide and advocate for personal, social and political action .​

​Nationally this work is being taken forward by the NHS through its Living Longer Better system www.livelongerbetter.uk  and this is led by Dr Sarah Price, the Director of Public Health for the NHS and by Elspeth Briscoe and Mark Fishleigh from Learning with Experts  www.learningwithexperts.com and Alan Naismith who has developed the W:ISH technology which enables the delivery of personalised knowledge about the opportunities for physical, cognitive and emotional activity both local and online linked to, and sometimes instead of, drug prescriptions.







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