Giving up a bus or train seat to the elderly could harm their health, a medical expert has warned.
Standing up is good for the elderly and we should not be encouraging them to be less active.
Relatives should also urge their loves ones to take stairs rather than lifts or escalators and walk to the shops with their bags.
They should also resist getting a stair lift installed unless really needed.
Oxford professor Sir Muir Gray, who is clinical adviser to Public Health England, said pensioners must ‘play their part’ in keeping active to avoid becoming a burden to the NHS.
He called on them to ‘understand their role’ by staying physically fit and urged them to walk for at least 10 minutes a day.
An expert has called on pensioners to ‘understand their role’ in avoiding being a burden to the health and social care system by staying physically fit (stock photo)
‘We need to be encouraging activity as we age – not telling people to put their feet up,’ he told the British Medical Journal.
‘Don’t get a stair lift for your ageing parents, put in a second banister. And think twice before giving up your seat on the bus or train to an older person. Standing up is great exercise for them.’
Retirement is not a time to rest
The NHS is set to be overwhelmed by a surge in elderly disabled people over the next decade, experts have warned.
The number of over-65s in England and Wales requiring care will grow by 25 per cent by 2025, according to a study published earlier this year in the Lancet Public Health journal.
Studies have estimated that just 2 per cent of older adults meet weekly exercise requirements.
Scarlett McNally, an orthopaedic surgeon at Eastbourne District General Hospital, agreed, The Sun reported.
She said: ‘A lot of illness in later life is not due to older age, but inactivity.
‘The more exercise we do the better.’
She suggested older patients while in hospital should do squats next to their beds and walk the corridors to improve their recovery time.
Lead author Scarlett O’Mally, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Eastbourne District General Hospital, said old age should not be seen as the time to ‘take it easy’.
‘We need to challenge the idea that old people should rest,’ she said. ‘People need to keep active however old they are.
‘They need to increase activity. Every adult should do a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week and twice weekly strength and balance training.’