“More of the Same is Not Enough”:

New Directions in Ageing and

Physical Activity Seminar Series

Noreen Orr 4th December 2014 (N.Orr@exeter.ac.uk)

• Introducing the Seminar Series

• Introducing Moving Stories research

• Introducing Today’s Seminar

More of the Same is Not Enough

More of the Same is Not Enough

Aim:

• To bring together academics, policy makers, health and social care practitioners, physical activity and sports providers, and those working within the voluntary and statutory sectors, to create a research network to advance knowledge in the social, cultural and physical environments that can enable or deter physical activity engagement in older age and shape how it is experienced

Timeliness

• Projected rise of people age 60+ in the next 25 years (ONS, 2013)

• Decreases in activity levels as people grow older (Stamatakis et al, 2007)

• Highly inactive population despite 60 years of research developing and communicating guidelines and implementing interventions (Das &

Horton, 2012)

‘Rethinking our approach’

• But how do we encourage a behaviour

that should be part of everyday life? For

too long the focus has been on advising

individuals to take an active approach to

life. There has been far too little

consideration of the social and physical

environments that enable such activity to

be taken (Das & Horton, 2012: 1)

‘Rethinking our approach’

• Physical activity is not a medical or

pathological predicament but more a

cultural challenge: to create a lifestyle

inclusive of activity (Das & Horton, 2012: 1)

• Introducing the Seminar Series

• Introducing Moving Stories research

• Introducing Today’s Seminar

Moving Stories Research

• Dr Cassandra Phoenix, Senior Lecturer in Qualitative

Health Research

Active Childhood“I did no physical activity until

recently…I was the child that stood

in the school playground looking at

other people doing activity…And,

it’s only in the last five years that I

thought, ‘well now I’m the age I am, I

could probably take up a bit of sport

and I wouldn’t look like a loser’. And

that has been absolutely fascinating

because that was joining the local

bowling club and I thought, ‘well I’ll

just go’. (Lesley, Lawn Bowls, Age 64)

TransitionsAnd I cycled when I was

young, so I had a bicycle when

I retired, and…I retired on 30th

November, I said, ‘tomorrow

morning at 9 o’clock I am going

to play tennis’…And it just so

happened 1st December was

absolutely blue, clear blue sky

and I played tennis out of doors

with my wife…and I’ve been

playing tennis ever since.”

(Duncan, Tennis, Age 68)

I was diagnosed with

Type 2 Diabetes…I then

started a very strict

regime of getting up

every morning and going

out and doing a brisk walk

for about 30 to 40

minutes. (Rupert,

Walking, Age 68)

Events

The Mindset

“It really is the case that it makes you feel better. I

mean, I do have to force myself to get out on

the bike sometimes. Quite often I’ll say ‘oh, it’s

not very nice weather and it’s blowing a bit’, you

know. But then I think ‘there is no real excuse,

you’ve got to’. So I get changed and I always

come back feeling so much better and so glad I

did it.” (Gilbert, Cycling, Age 71)

The MindsetI do feel I’ve actually got to work at it in in terms of fitness. I think it would be very easy to be lazy and not do much…It’s very easy to slip into bad habits with diet. I find it’s very easy to anyway. So it does require a bit of self-discipline. (Doug, Swimming, Age 60)

• Introducing the Seminar Series

• Introducing Moving Stories research

• Introducing Today’s Seminar

Physical Activity as Career: A

Life-course Perspective

• Prof Gertrude Pfister

• Dave Terrace

• Prof Barbara Humberstone

• Rupert Manley

• Sarah Jarvis & Ann Bennett

Housekeeping

• Switch off/silence mobile

phones

• No files drills expected

• Facilities

http://seminars.ecehh.org/

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