Daily Action Ideas

Our nutrition is our fuel for our body – we need vitamins and minerals to support every cell that makes us up from our bones to our teeth and everything in between. Having a varied and nutritious diet is essential for our health. As we age it becomes even more important. Here are some ideas for healthy eating actions:

Breakfast: have a healthy breakfast every day:

Breakfast is the first meal of the day and is an opportunity to fuel up for our health and provide the energy we need to start our day and focus our minds. Having a balanced breakfast will also help provide minerals, vitamins and fibre. We’ll share some breakfast ideas in our emails – a healthy breakfast can mean different things for different people.

Eat regularly every day:

Everyone is different and some people prefer to graze through the day than have 3 meals a day. It depends what pattern is better for you; it is the total of what you have had in the day that is important and that it is balanced. Eating the Rainbow has been suggested as a great way to help us to eat a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables everyday!

What works for you - do it every day this May?:

Nutrition varies according to the individual – you may be in your 50s trying to cut down sugar or in your 70s and trying to ensure a regular nutritious diet – whatever your challenge with eating, set yourself your own target for May.

*If you are taking part in Take Five and have allergies or are on a particular diet, please speak to a healthcare professional before making any changes to your dietary intake.

Water makes up over two-thirds of the healthy human body. It lubricates the joints and eyes, aids digestion, flushes out waste and toxins, and keeps the skin healthy. Dehydration occurs when your body loses more fluid than you take in. When the normal water content of your body is reduced, it upsets the balance of minerals (salts and sugar) in your body, which affects the way it functions. The body is affected even when you lose a small amount of fluid. Most of the time, we can prevent dehydration by drinking regularly throughout the day. Be guided by your thirst, but be aware that in hot weather, when exercising and during illness, you should drink more. As we age, we also start to naturally feel less thirsty so it’s important to keep an eye on how much you’re drinking throughout the day. Here are some ideas for healthy drinking actions:

Drink enough water: stay well hydrated every day 

It can be difficult to know if we are getting dehydrated but a great way to check is to look at your pee – dark or strong smelling urine is a sign of dehydration.

Reduce your alcohol intake: try a month without alcohol or limit it to within the NHS guidelines of no more than six pints of beer or six regular glasses of wine.

Regularly drinking more than this can be damaging to your health – it is associated with higher risks of certain cancers, heart disease, brain damage and can impact mental health. For more information, read the NHS advice. 

Carry a water bottle: keep a water bottle with you when you leave home

This can help you avoid dehydration when you leave home and can save money and reduces the use of single use plastics.

There are loads of things that you can do for your brain health – from meeting new people to learning new things to moving more. Here are some ideas for actions for your brain:

Learn: learn or do something new, practice daily and perhaps share it with others This can be a whole range of things - you could join a group learning how to knit or learning to sing new music. You could learn about gardening and help at a community garden or you could listen to the radio to learn about something new and share what you learn with someone. All of these activities are good for using your brain

Get creative: draw something everyday – you could do this with a grandchild or swap pictures about your day with a friend Engaging in art has been shown to have various benefits including supporting brain health and improving mood.

Play: do puzzles and play games every day Play is good for us! Boards games and puzzles often involve interacting with others and can be a great way building friendships. Research has found that learning new games and playing them has mood benefits and can get our brains going and even improve interpersonal communication.

Be mindful: pause and take notice of your surroundings for at least 1 minute, 3 times a day Feeling stress, worry or anxiety is common, particularly as we age. By taking some time out to observe our surroundings regularly, it can help reduce stress and worry.

Read – hug your brain with a nice book by reading at least 5 pages a day Reading can be an easy way of expanding your knowledge or putting yourself in other people’s shoes – whether you like ancient Egypt or adventure novels, libraries across the UK have a book for you! It also has health benefits – exercising the brains memory, promoting relaxation and reducing stress.

Write about your day - keep a daily journal Hand writing is good for maintaining good motor control and even exercising the hand whilst the mental processes involved in journaling engage memory and language centres. This daily action also supports wellbeing and can help reduce stress.

Studies suggest that being mindful - focusing on the present - can reduce anxiety and depression as well as lower blood pressure and improve sleep. There’s even some evidence to suggest that it can help people cope with pain. 
 

It isn’t healthy to stay seated for most of the day – we need to move or stretch. There is overwhelming evidence for movement supporting healthy ageing – from protecting brain health to reducing the risk of falls to strengthening bones. Build movement into you day – take every opportunity to move. Here are some ideas for movement actions:

Walk for your health: go for two short walks every day, you know your ability so decide the distance that works for you

Walking is a great way to move – often overlooked, a walk is a form of weight bearing exercise and can be good for bone health and maintain muscle mass. Walking can also help ease muscle stiffness and pain. Build a walk into your routine – walk a grandchild to school or walk to the shops. For advice on getting walking, look at the NHS website.

Get outside for five minutes every day: breathe and take in the outdoors

Getting outside is good for us – sun on our skin helps our bodies produce vitamin D, natural light helps our sleep cycles, and changes in temperature helps kick start the immune system. Read more in this blog from Age Scotland.

Power: do 3 short (6-10 min) bursts of weight bearing exercise every day

As we age, we naturally lose muscle and our bones can weaken. Doing weight bearing exercise and can help maintain muscle which helps strengthen our bones and this is important to prevent falls as we age. Doing some squats while you wait for the kettle to boil is a great way of building this into your day.

Stand: Get up and move for 5 or more minutes every hour throughout the day

It can be easy to stay seated most of the day, but we know that this isn’t good for us – regularly movement throughout the day can help us age better. You could set an alarm to help you to remember to stand up and move.

Stay flexible: every couple of hours you are sitting, do two minutes of stretching and moving

Stretching the body helps reduce tension and stiffness in muscles and moving gets the blood going. Check out We are Undefeatable for ideas.

It is good for your health and wellbeing to connect with others – it helps maintain brain health and boosts wellbeing. Here are some ideas for actions to connect and engage. If you want to connect to the Take Five community online: join the social nQuire site and post something everyday and comment on someone’s else’s post. Here are some ideas for some actions to connect and engage:

Connect: call or meet a friend or family member for a chat every day

When we talk to others we force our brains to concentrate, remember information about ourselves and others and this is good for our brain health. There are also wellbeing benefits from connecting with others. If you feel like you don’t have people to call, why not try one of Age UK’s services in your area.

Know your community or neighbours and engage with someone every day

Meeting and checking on community members to see how they are can help build safer, friendlier areas and improve your wellbeing and brain health at the same time.

Share a hobby: try a new hobby this May with others

Join a community group or class to meet new people and share something new. This will benefit brain health and wellbeing as well as trying something new – this may not be a daily action but join a group, attend regularly and practice your hobby where possible.

Are you a carer? Share your action and knowledge from the Take Five emails with the person you care for - taking part together is easier than alone

It can be hard to find time for your own health and wellbeing when you are a carer – sharing Take Five with the person you care for allows sharing of health information and maybe even completing the actions together.