We're living longer, dying faster

By SIMON COLLINS in Manchester

British experts on ageing say there is no need to panic about the rising numbers of old people - they look set to be healthier for longer, and then die quickly.

A series of speakers at Britain's Science Festival in Manchester said most people should be capable of exercising well into their 90s, as long as they did not lose their strength by sitting down all day.

Twenty years of lost strength could be regained in 20 weeks of exercise at any age, said Dr Dawn Skelton, of the European Prevention of Falls Network.

Professor Raymond Tallis, of Manchester University, said people who died in their 90s now had no more days in hospital in the last 15 years of their life than people who died in their 70s.

A fresh map of life had to be drawn, he said.

Added years are not being bought simply at the cost of added troubles.

People almost everywhere, outside African countries, are living longer. New Zealand figures published in July show that the average lifespan lengthened in the 15 years to 1999 from 70.9 to 75.7 years for Pakeha men and from 77.2 to 80.8 years for Pakeha women.

Maori died sooner, but their average lifespans still increased slightly in the same period, from 64.6 to 65.8 years for men, and from 69.4 to 71 years for women.

In Britain as in New Zealand, these trends have sparked what Dr Tallis called panic in the Treasury, because old people on average need a lot more healthcare than younger people.

But he said actual illness among older people was turning out to be less than expected. The proportion of British men over the age of 85 who were still able to perform four activities of daily living without help rose from 55 per cent in 1976 to 88 per cent in 1994.

Older people were in better shape than they used to be, said Dr Tallis.

He predicted that this trend would continue with the help of better diet and exercise to combat conditions such as strokes, the commonest form of severe disability in old age.

We now knew how to prevent more than half of all strokes by measures such as controlling high blood pressure, adequately treating high blood-sugar and raised cholesterol, giving aspirin to people at high risk and anticoagulants to people with certain cardiac arrhythmias, he said.

Such measures could postpone strokes and other bodily breakdowns for so long that by the time they happened, the rest of the body would be ready to die quickly.

By delaying the onset of disabling diseases to later ages, when intrinsic ageing had raised fatality by reducing adaptability, the average duration of disability before death would shorten, Dr Tallis said.

In brief, we shall spend a longer time living and a shorter time dying.

Dr Skelton said the key to good health at all ages was to spend at least half an hour a day working up at least a minimal puff and a sweat.

Even 90- and 100-year-olds could benefit from correct exercise, she said. There were no medical conditions that prevented people exercising safely - they just had to adapt the exercise.

In a few cases, that might mean simple chair-based exercises such as lifting one leg and holding it off the ground for a count of 10.

But for most elderly people, even in rest-homes, the only thing stopping them from more active exercise was motivation.

Dr Skelton said you had to find the one thing people wanted to do but could not any more, even if it was just cutting their toenails or getting out of the bath.

Exercises tailored to their needs could often get people fit enough to do such tasks again.

In the nursing or residential homes, the sight of older people sitting all day in their chairs was not only depressing, but actually increased their risk of an earlier death, she said.

Sadly, it was often the carers or relatives who instilled this myth of "slow down, take it easy" into the person, and this limitation led to disuse and self-imposed disability.

Caring for a disabled person was easier if they could offer some help in their movements, or reduce their weight with regular activity.

Ageing gracefully

Average lifespans in New Zealand

In the 15 years to 1999, the lifespan for Pakeha men went from 70.9 to 75.7 years and for Pakeha women from 77.2 to 80.8 years.

Maori died sooner, but their average lifespans still increased slightly in the same period, from 64.6 to 65.8 years for men, and from 69.4 to 71 years for women.