We are all living longer. The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2050 there will be two billion people over 60 with 434 million of those over 80 years of age. But there's a catch: the quality of those extra years of life is shockingly poor. Many of us will find ourselves living with diseases and dependent on non-curative drugs and health carers as a result. We are not ageing well nor wisely.
Dr Norman Lazarus, 84, is an exception. He is an expert on the physiology of healthy human ageing and living proof that our later years can be lived well. Even now, in his eighties, he leads an active and medication-free lifestyle, regularly walking and cycling long distances. Dr Lazarus has now written a remarkable book, with the aim of helping others to stay well for longer.
The Lazarus Strategy is a part how-to and part manifesto on the art of healthy ageing to guide readers along the path to a more active, productive, independent future and a medication-free life. Norman will show us that our lifestyle choices now will determine how we will age through our golden years and how fast - in the future. The three main factors crucial to keeping healthy are physical activity, food and the mind. Norman explains how each of these affect ageing and how we need to make changes to these areas of our life from the age of 50 and beyond.