Centenary talks healthy ageing at NSW Seniors Expo

At the Seniors Expo, Centenary researchers and staff outlined the essential activity taking place at the Institute, explaining that dedicated researchers were working hard to improve the quality of life for older people by better understanding ageing-related diseases and finding new treatments and cures.

Centenary’s Associate Professor Andy Philp, Director of the Centre for Healthy Ageing delivered a public talk at the event in which he explained the science involved in ageing. He said that ageing is a central risk factor for many chronic diseases – and that positive lifestyle modifications involving diet and exercise can aid the ageing process and lead to better health and wellbeing.

As a part of his talk, Associate Professor Philp detailed the concept of ‘exercise snacking’. This is regular exercise and physical activity structured into short bouts, providing varying levels of movement and intensity. Exercise snacking he said, could provide a novel approach to combat the negative effects of ageing on the body and be easily incorporated into people’s day-to-day lives.

“As we age, it is critical that we include both endurance and resistance type exercise in our daily routines so that we can prevent the loss of strength that occurs with ageing,” he said.

“Exercise snacking is an interesting approach as it provides individuals with a variety of exercises, each designed to prevent muscle deterioration, that can lead to an improved ability to perform the daily activities of living.”

“By having choices, we hope that exercise snacking can provide individuals with more ideas as to how they can be active and exercising regularly,” Associate Professor Philp concluded.

At the Expo, attendees were invited to sign up to receive a free Centenary Exercise Snacking Program, a complete do-it-yourself guide to exercising in bite-sized pieces. They were also able to speak directly to Centenary researchers at the Institute’s stand and were offered an informative education pack on healthy ageing. 

Attracting over 19,000 visitors across two days, the NSW Seniors Festival Expo is the largest event for seniors (those aged over 60) in the Southern Hemisphere.