7 Things To Avoid After 60 You Need to Know About

Plus: Two Inspiring Centenarians & Walking Group Members June Challenge

Jun 01, 2025

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DISCUSSION: What do you think about the two inspiring centenarians? And can you get down to the floor and back up again without using hands?

a living room with a pink couch and a guitar — *Photo by Jamie Quirke on Unsplash*

7 Things To Avoid After 60 You Need To Know About

People Who Enjoy Negativity
Spend as little time as possible with people who accept decline and decay as the route to growing older. They like to discuss their latest condition and the medication they recently added to the list they already take. Often the new drug is to ease symptoms that have arisen because of the side effects of the previous one. Comparing health issues can be the highlight of such a gathering.
Attempts to bring the conversation around to exercising and healthy eating, and the positive aspects of ageing, or just life in general, can fall on deaf ears. They will touch on it lightly but don’t seem to find it as engrossing as the ailments an unhealthy old age can bring. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have compassion for such people. Of course we should, but for our own sake we need to stay in the positive zone.
Age Conformists
Avoid people who believe that there are do’s and don’ts for every age and will tell you what they think you’re too old to do, or wear, or use. Ageing is inevitable but growing old is a choice.
Dehydration
Making sure your body is well hydrated is important at any age, and especially so in older age.
Giving In to ‘being too old’
Don’t tell yourself you have to give up something ‘because you’re too old’. Ask yourself what is actually stopping you from doing it. Physical weakness, perhaps? Your body won’t bend like it used to? Start exercising regularly to build strength and flexibility back up. It’s never too late to try.
Being sedentary and eating unhealthily
Think that once you’ve retired you can eat what you want and lead a sedentary lifestyle? Of course, you can do that, but it will most likely lead to sarcopenia and diabetes. To stay fit and well and fully engaged with life for as long as possible, eat healthy food, exercise regularly, challenge yourself sometimes, and learn new things.
Ignoring eye and hearing tests
Your eyes and ears play vital roles in your connecting with life and they need to be as fully functioning as they can be to do be able to do that well. Getting them checked regularly as you grow older will avoid undiagnosed problems with them.
Growing a large waistline.
In middle-age when our metabolism changes, it’s easier to put on weight. A large waist means there’s fat around your organs so they can’t function properly. This needs to be removed by reducing calories and meal portions and giving up unhealthy ultra-processed snacks. Regular exercise is important too, to reduce the inches around the middle, which will allow your organs to do their jobs unhindered.

Two Inspiring Centenarians

A Long-Living Professor Shares His Tips for Longevity

I read about this remarkable man in The Times of India. Dr John Sharffenberg is a Harvard University Alumnus. He was born in 1923, making him 102! His active life involves sharing his knowledge about longevity on social media and in interviews. Living a long and healthy life requires a combination of good habits and a positive mindset.

He recommends giving up tobacco, alcohol and sugar, learning how to manage stress and exercising every day. He places emphasis on eating a plant based diet with little meat. Being overweight is to be avoided, according to Dr Sharffenberg, who eats his breakfast at 6.30, then lunch at 12.30 every day, and doesn’t eat any anything else.

So this man has lived his long life according to the science on ageing, which is good to know for those of us trying to extend our healthspan as long as we possibly can.

A Longevous Artist - Still Working

Anthony Eyton RA is a British figurative artist who paints every day. He’s a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and will be exhibiting work in it’s Annual Summer Exhibition and at other galleries. He also is an amazing 102, having been born in 1923. His daughter, Sarah Eyton, has an account on Instagram, where I first learned about him.

I’ve no idea what he would credit his reason to for having lived such a long life. He may have good genes and live a healthy lifestyle, but one thing we do know he has that’s good for longevity: a sense of purpose. This dedicated artist has a reason to get up every day, he has paintings to be getting on with, deadlines to meet for his exhibitions!

Walking Group Members: June Challenge

Today is the first day of June and time to change our second challenge. After much deliberation, and then a timely suggestion from Kate W, one of our group members - thank you, Kate, the June Challenge will be to get down and up off the floor without using hands if possible. Science tells us that to be able to do this adds 6 years to your life.

The ability to do it as we get older will prevent us being stranded on the floor if we fall and can’t get back up. This happened twice to my mother in her seventies and as a result she stopped going out in case it happened outside. She had an emergency alarm which she wore around her neck, just in case.

The 4,000 step count still stands and if you don’t want to do the second challenge, it’s fine to just do the step count. You could do exercise snacks if you’d like a second challenge, but the official June one is: getting down and up off the floor without using hands, or practicing using hands until you don’t need to.

You can accomplish this in any way you want. Here’s instructions for one method, it’s the one I use when I practise this useful and important exercise (taken from my book):

Kneel on the ground (on something soft to protect your knees if necessary) in a high kneeling position; put your left foot forward and place it on the ground.
Without using your hands, push up onto that leg into a standing position and bring the right leg alongside it.
Then reverse the process - put your right leg back and place the knee on the knee protection, bringing the other knee down and alongside it.
Put your right foot forward and place it on the ground; without using your hands, push up onto that leg and bring the other alongside it.

You may need to press your hands onto your thigh when you first start practicing this, but as your legs strengthen, you should be able to do it without using your hands.

Here’s a video I found on YouTube, showing other ways to get down and up:

Join in the Chat thread for Life In The Second Half, checking in with your challenge choices and results for the day.

DISCUSSION

What do you think about the two inspiring centenarians? Both active and with a sense of purpose.
Can you get down to the floor and back up again without using hands?
How many people had to look up a word I used in this post? I’d never heard or seen it before, but I found it while looking for a synonym for long living.

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