Maintaining our health as we get older is a priority for all of us as we seek to ensure we are adding “life to our years” rather than just “years to our life”. We are all aware of the familiar NHS and Government advice on a range of aspects of our health-related behaviour, such as how often we do any exercise, taking care to have a healthy diet, giving up smoking or keeping a healthy weight, but what long term impacts do these behaviours have and on what? What are the impacts on some of the later life negatives we’d all like to avoid, like cognitive decline and dementia, heart disease or frailty? And what are the impacts even in the context of such long-term health diagnoses? We are also aware that our psychological health and other dimensions of wellbeing, such as the social support we have or the environment we live in are important components of our resilience as we get older too.

This one day event will showcase work from Lancaster University’s Centre for Ageing Research researchers and partners, touching on themes such as impacts of physical activity throughout life on later life wellbeing, or issues of health weight,  the role of personal resilience in maintaining wellbeing in the face of health problems, and of course, as if you haven’t heard enough about it, we will be telling you about some early findings of our work on wellbeing impacts of COVID-19 self-isolation and social distancing on older people.

There will also be a chance to talk to some of our students and other researchers about their work in the lunchtime poster viewings, and learn about some ways to get involved yourself, all via easy to use “Teams” links on your computer or mobile device. 

 

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT = PLEASE SEE BELOW

Thursday, October 1, 2020

09:00 - 14:30

Professor Carol Holland

Programme 

Please note there are separate links for the
 morning and afternoon sessions as well as lunchtime events

CHAIR: Carol Holland

9.30-9.35 Opening Welcome and explanation of programme

Carol Holland, Professor of Ageing, Director of Lancaster University Centre for Ageing Research (C4AR)

 

Talks will all be 10-15 minutes with a short time for questions and discussion.

9.35-9.50        What matters to older people in terms of research on maintaining health?

Asan Akpan. Consultant Geriatrician, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS FT

 

9.50-9.55 Discussion

 

9.55-10.05      Wilderness and nature-adventure sport in later life: understanding the mechanisms for 

                       wellbeing.

Christine Milligan, Professor of Health and Social Geography, Lancaster University

 

10:05 – 10.20 If you don’t use it, you lose it: the secret benefits of physical activity!     

Theo Bampouras, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, Lancaster University

 

10.20 – 10.35 Intentional weight loss in later life – is it a good thing?

Jen Logue, Clinical Reader in Metabolic Medicine, Lancaster University

 

10.35-10.50    Resilience – what is it and can it be improved?

Ian Garner, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Lancaster University

 

10.50-11.00 Discussion

 

11.00 – 12.55 Lunch and poster exhibition – there will be a separate link released for each lunchtime event.

12.55 Please re-join the afternoon talks

 

AFTERNOON CHAIR: Trevor Crawford

 

13.00-13.15    Experiences and impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak for older adults.

Sandra Varey, Research Fellow, Ian Garner, Post-Doctoral Research Associate and Carol Holland, Professor of Ageing, Lancaster University

 

13.15-13.30    COVID-19: Impacts of lockdown on wellbeing for people with Parkinson’s Disease.       

Fiona Eccles, Lecturer in Health Research, Lancaster University  

 

13.30-13.40    Discussion

 

13.40-13.55    Maintaining wellbeing through the arts in Dementia.

Meghánn Ward, PhD student, Lancaster University

 

13.55-14.10     A Holistic approach to reducing dementia risk.

Garuth Chalfont, Research Associate, Lancaster University

 

14.10-14.20 Discussion

 

14.20-14.25 Round up

Dr Trevor Crawford, Reader in Neuropsychology, Deputy Director of Lancaster University Centre for Ageing Research (C4AR)