Ageing well: Hayes Green WI inspired to keep active
Hayes Green Women's Institute were pleased to welcome Dr Belinda Bowd to their September meeting. Dr Bowd led an interesting and informative discussion with the ladies around the subject of ageing and physical activity.
Belinda began by sharing some sobering facts about the health of the population of the UK. According to the British Heart Foundation there are currently 7.6 million people living with heart or circulatory disease. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence found in 2023 10 million people in the UK had osteoarthritis. The average age for diagnosis of osteoarthritis is 55, and 5.4 million people are affected by osteoarthritis of the knee and 3.2 million in the hip, more women than men are affected. It was also found that 75% of women experienced menopausal symptoms in middle age of which 25% say these symptoms are severe.
Dr Bowd very clearly explained that aging is not a disease but a normal progressive decline in capacity but that this process increases the incidence of disease. However physical activity will improve cardiovascular health, muscle mass, bone density, lower body fat, lessen the risk of falls and injury, decreases the incidence of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and other chronic disease, improves sleep, is good for cognitive health, good for mental health and improves quality of life. To get the most benefit between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate physical activity should be carried out each week. Research by Sports England found that pleasingly the physical activity levels in older adults, those aged 55 to 75, are beginning to increase.
Dr Bowd explained how her own love of exercise and physical fitness throughout her life had shaped her career in the fitness industry and had helped her survive severe illness. She has extensively studied health and fitness and how health related problems can be helped through exercise, obtaining a Masters Degree in sports and exercise. She shared the findings of a three-year study she carried out for her PHD into why people do or do not exercise, what constitutes moderate exercise, what barriers get in the way of people doing regular physical exercise, what can motivate people to keep going with exercise and what the benefits of physical exercise are. The ladies of Hayes Green WI were keen to join in the lively discussion with Dr Dowd.
Dr Bowd closed her talk with a short chair fit session which got everyone moving and laughing. She left the Hayes Green WI members with the message that doing something to move your body physically even only for a short time is easy to fit into your everyday life and the ladies left the meeting motivated to move more.
Hayes Green Women's Institute next meet at 7.30pm at Five Ways Inn on 7th October 2025 for a craft night. Prospective new members are welcome to join us.
