The first thing is that there are a lot of us.

In the last four decades, the number of people over 50 in the UK has increased by 40pc and there are currently more than 10 million adults aged 65 or over.

By 2030, this age group will make up 22pc of the population.

I don’t know about you but learning how many older people there are makes me doubly determined to keep myself as fit and well as possible.

Because unless we suddenly get a load more doctors and other medical professionals working for the health service, it looks as if there will be increasing competition to access help when we need it.

So, I think we all need to wake up to the idea that we should do our bit to keep well. Luckily, there’s masses of information to help.

For example, having read through various academic studies, much of what they recommend in order to age healthily, boils down to just a few points:

According to Professor Sarah Harper, Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, society needs to look at older people differently and come to the view that “old people are people with the same potential that all adults hold”.........

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