Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave has five Olympic titles to his name but insists the key to success as he gets older will be ageing healthily.
The 62-year-old factors in many healthy habits including regular exercise and taking the time to focus on nutrition.
And the former rowing titan wants to encourage the rest of the population to do the same with less than 50 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Redgrave has joined forces with fellow sporting powerhouse Daley Thompson to support GSK’s Get Shingles Ready campaign and wants to educate the public on the importance of maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.
He said: “I became a grandfather nearly a year ago and I am concerned about getting older.
“Staying active, fit, and eating healthily are all very key elements of the ageing process to make sure it happens smoothly and in the manner we would like it to.
“I don’t work in the fitness industry, so I find it a little bit harder to have that mental approach to say I want to do activity on a regular basis.
“I play quite a lot of golf, you need other people around you, if you don’t turn up they probably won’t get to play and that’s the process that I think works for me.
“Routine really helps us as athletes, or former athletes, everything we did was about routine, if you didn’t have a routine, then you wouldn’t get anything out of it.
“That’s the key, finding an excuse or motivation to get out there to do some low-impact activity to keep you fit and healthy.”
Illnesses such as shingles can affect anyone – according to a GSK-commissioned survey of 1000 adults 60+ who have heard of shingles, 85 per cent said that staying healthy as they get older is ‘very important’ to them, but the number of people taking specific measures to remain healthy are, in some case, significantly lower.
Only half said they do regular exercise while 61 per cent watch what they eat.
The risk of older adults developing some conditions or of being more severely impacted by them can be higher compared to younger adults and Redgrave is also using his platform to urge people to check whether they are eligible for NHS vaccination programmes.
He said: “As well as eating well and staying active, we need to be proactive about seeing the doctor. There are NHS vaccination programmes for things like flu, covid and shingles, which we may become eligible for as we get older. My eldest sister has had shingles; I knew a little bit about it and how uncomfortable it was.
“Our immune system gets weaker as we age and we’re more susceptible to shingles and other things. But there are things you can do to keep on top of your health.”
“I would say be active and get motivated by all the young people who are going to be standing on those podiums and getting those medals this summer at the Olympics.
“It’s got to be an ongoing process, not just about what we’re doing now but also moving forward.
“We want to be around for a long time, so we want to enjoy life as much as possible through being healthy.”
Get Shingles Ready is a campaign by GSK supported by Steve Redgrave and Daley Thompson. For more information visit GetShinglesReady.co.uk
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