Year of heavy weights resistance training around retirement age has long-lasting benefits, research suggests
Lifting heavy weights three times a week around the age of retirement could dramatically preserve your leg strength long into the later stages of life, research suggests.
People naturally lose muscle function as they get older, and experts say faltering leg strength is a strong predictor of death in elderly people.
Continue reading...Papy Booom runs outings for older people, and late-night dancing is proving a successful way of socialising and staying active
A Belgian initiative with the motto “happiness overcomes old age” has found a novel way to counter feelings of loneliness among nursing home residents: unleashing them on to the dancefloor of Brussels’ largest nightclub.
As part of a series of unconventional activities designed to keep retired people active, a nonprofit association, Papy Booom, recently arranged for 11 pensioners to visit Lift Brussels, a 1,360 sq metre (14,500 sq ft) venue specialising in R&B, reggaeton and Latin dance.
Continue reading...The government’s scrapping of the Now Teach scheme, which has overdelivered on targets for older workers, has sparked an outcry
Ministers have been accused of making a crisis in the recruitment of teachers even worse after axing funding to a much-praised programme helping older workers start a new career in the classroom.
An outcry is already beginning over the decision to axe the career change programme, with organisers complaining that there “will be barely anyone left to teach our children” unless Rishi Sunak lives up to his party conference pledge to prioritise education.
Continue reading...Alarm grows over possible pension cuts as research suggests Jeremy Hunt tax cut announcement was ‘blunder’
Labour is to wage a new campaign to win over Tory-supporting pensioners in an attempt to neutralise one of the government’s last remaining electoral strengths, amid evidence the Conservatives are now performing as badly among the age group as they did under Liz Truss’s leadership.
With less than a fortnight to go until local elections in England, which some Tories fear could trigger an attempt to topple Rishi Sunak, the Observer understands that Keir Starmer’s top officials are reorienting their campaign after detecting alarm among pensioners over the impact a Conservative tax-cutting pledge could have on pensions and the NHS.
Continue reading...John Alfred Tinniswood, who was born in 1912 in Liverpool, acquired the title after Japan’s Gisaburo Sonobe, 112, died in March
An 111-year-old man from England is now the world’s oldest living man and says the only diet he follows is eating fish and chips every Friday.
John Alfred Tinniswood, who was born in 1912 – the same year the Titanic sank – insist the secret to his long life is “pure luck”. He obtained the title of world’s oldest man after 112-year-old Gisaburo Sonobe, from Japan, was confirmed to have died on 31 March.
Continue reading...Piano especially associated with improved mental processes in those over 40, Exeter University research finds
Playing a musical instrument or joining a choir is linked to better memory and thinking skills in older age, research has found.
The piano was especially associated with a better brain in those over 40 in the study from Exeter University, which reviewed data from more than a thousand adults and looked at how much experience the people had in participating in music.
Continue reading...ONS data also reveals working mothers spend on average an hour and a quarter more a day on household chores than male partners
You may not catch them on TikTok or Snapchat, but the latest data shows that the over-70s are spending more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics detailing how different Britons report spending their time, the 70-plus age group is second only to those in their 20s when it comes to the average amount of time using a computer or device as a primary activity (separate from working or watching streamed video).
Continue reading...Underfunded, overstretched sector to become testing ground for battle against low pay but critics say policy is weak and vague
“My sister is a care worker. She was a care worker during the pandemic. Fourteen-hour shifts, often overnight. Unimaginable pressure. And the reward? A struggle every week – and I mean every week – just to make ends meet.”
So spoke Keir Starmer last month, drawing on experience close to home in his party conference speech to underline his determination to overhaul the cash-strapped social care sector.
Continue reading...England’s chief medical officer says more realistic conversations needed about some treatments’ side-effects
England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, has called for a cultural shift in medicine away from maximising lifespan and towards improving quality of life in old age, arguing that sometimes this means “less medicine, not more”.
Speaking before the publication of his 2023 annual report, which this year focuses on health in an ageing society, Whitty said doctors needed to have more realistic conversations with patients about the risk of some treatments extending life at the expense of quality of life and independence.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Poll shows young people willing to make big lifestyle changes but baulk at smaller gestures
They are willing to have smaller families, stop using cars and – albeit in smaller numbers – go vegan for the planet, but abandoning single-use plastics and growing a few more plants could be a step too far.
Across Europe, according to a seven-country survey, it seems young people are more willing than older generations to make big lifestyle changes that would help combat the climate crisis – but are less convinced by smaller gestures.
Continue reading...The over-55s account for biggest rise in trainee teachers in England, with a 75% increase in applications
The work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, recently suggested that unemployed people over 50 should consider delivering takeaways.
But the army of missing workers Stride was seeking are looking to do something more productive with their time: this year, the over-55s accounted for the biggest rise in new trainee teachers in England, with a 75% increase in applications.
Continue reading...Annette Pershal, 68, who was shot multiple times with a pellet gun, was ‘full of love’, said daughter Brandy Nazworth
Two San Diego teenagers have been arrested in the fatal shooting of Annette Pershal, a 68-year-old unhoused woman who had lived on the streets for years and was known to locals as “Granny Annie”.
Pershal was found on the street unconscious on 8 May and taken to the hospital where doctors discovered she’d been shot multiple times with a pellet gun, officials said. She died several days later and her death was ruled a homicide.
Continue reading...Research shows our imaginations grow richer with age so the charity is giving grownups a chance to have fun
Parents are used to watching their children eagerly dress up as a knight or a gladiator before going bananas when they visit castles, forts and stately homes.
But English Heritage believes adults will also get more out of visiting their sites if they leave their inhibitions aside and don a Roman toga or medieval chainmail for the day.
Continue reading...HC-One employed nurse at Tower Bridge Care Centre, which was found to be ‘not safe’ by inspectors
One of Britain’s biggest care home companies employed an 80-year-old senior nurse in a short-staffed care home who was older than some residents and not strong enough to help lift them.
HC-One employed the octogenarian at Tower Bridge Care Centre, which was found by inspectors to be “inadequate” and “not safe”, in a case that highlights a chronic shortage of care workers across the UK.
Continue reading...Thinktank challenges view that those taking early retirement under Covid were relatively well off
Half of older adults who left the UK workforce amid mass redundancies in the first year of the Covid pandemic ended up falling into relative poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Britain’s foremost economics thinktank said job losses during the early stages of the crisis, coupled with the additional health risks faced by older workers, were likely to have forced many people into early retirement.
Continue reading...Live life to the full and relish the simple things, says Máirín Hughes
Ireland’s oldest woman has marked her 109th birthday by sharing two tips on how to enjoy a long life: don’t waste time, and live it to the full.
Máirín Hughes follows her own advice by bird-watching, reading newspapers and novels, doing crosswords, listening to music, playing Scrabble – and enjoying the fuss every time she reaches another birthday. “I just like living,” she told reporters on Monday.
Continue reading...Swedish police pressing ahead with removal of Kathleen Poole, 74, due to incomplete post-Brexit paperwork
The family of a woman with Alzheimer’s who is threatened with deportation from Sweden have vowed to do anything they can to stop her removal because of a promise they made to their children.
Kathleen Poole, 74, is facing forced removal from Sweden, her home for 18 years, after immigration authorities rejected an application by her family to stay in the country post-Brexit on the grounds her paperwork was incomplete.
Continue reading...Jeremy Hunt criticised for scrapping lifetime allowance and increasing annual contribution cap
The chancellor has been accused of unveiling a £4bn tax giveaway that will benefit the wealthiest people in the UK by dramatically increasing how much they can stash away in pensions while enjoying the full tax benefits.
Jeremy Hunt announced a major shake-up of the rules governing how much people can pay into their retirement pots, which will have no impact on the vast majority of the population but could lead to huge gains for the top few per cent of wealthy, older pension savers. Labour claimed it was a handout for “the richest 1%” and that someone with a £2m pension pot would pay up to £275,000 less in tax as a result.
Continue reading...‘Relay loans’ that can pass on to children follow other moves to make borrowing more flexible
In an attempt to stimulate China’s flagging housing market, banks in some cities are extending the upper age limit on mortgages to between 80 and 95.
Although not a national policy, banks in Beijing, Hangzhou and other big cities have started offering “relay loans” to elderly customers, which pass on to their children in the event that they cannot repay.
Continue reading...Crowds of retirees gather in cities of Wuhan and Dalian to protest against cuts as local government coffers feel strain of years of Covid policies
Crowds of hundreds of older people took to the streets in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday in escalating protests against changes to the public health insurance system.
The protests were sparked by cuts to monthly allowances paid to retirees under China’s vast public health insurance system. The changes, gradually introduced since 2021, come as local government finances are strained following years of strict and costly zero-Covid policies.
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