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Healthy ageing

Healthy ageing is about looking after yourself so you can stay well, maintain your independence and get the most out of life.

There are many ways to age well. It’s important to be active, eat a healthy diet, have regular health checks and stay connected with people in your life. A healthy lifestyle will help you stay physically and mentally well.

People in Australia generally live longer and healthier lives than previous generations. Recent research shows that three out of four people aged 65 years and over consider themselves to have good, very good or excellent health. But the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health shows that about 87% of people aged 65 and over live with at least one chronic disease.

Learn more about how to look after your physical health (e.g. bone, bladder, bowel and heart health, diet and exercise) and mental health (e.g. social connections, memory and support).

Bone and joint health

Main­tain­ing healthy bones and joints is espe­cial­ly impor­tant as you get old­er. Age­ing caus­es changes in your bones, joints and mus­cles, such as stiffer joints and loss of bone den­si­ty. Learn more about com­mon issues for women and what you can do to have good bone and joint health.
A woman being treated by a physiotherapist

Physical activity

Stay­ing active as you get old­er has many ben­e­fits. It can help you main­tain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of many health con­di­tions. Research also shows that reg­u­lar phys­i­cal activ­i­ty can improve men­tal and emo­tion­al health, social well­be­ing and brain health. Learn more about the ben­e­fits of exer­cise and dif­fer­ent ways to stay active.
A group of older ladies smiling in the ocean

Bladder and bowel health

As you get old­er, your blad­der and bow­el may not work as well as they used to. Learn more about how to have good blad­der and bow­el con­trol (con­ti­nence), treat­ment and man­age­ment options and the bow­el can­cer screen­ing test.
A woman exercising outdoors and smiling

Nutrition and healthy eating

Good nutri­tion and healthy eat­ing are impor­tant through­out your life. A healthy diet can low­er your risk of devel­op­ing health prob­lems. It can also help you feel more ener­getic and men­tal­ly well. Learn more about the impor­tance of good nutri­tion as you age, plus healthy eat­ing tips.
Assortment of green vegetables on a table

Heart health

Good heart health is impor­tant for your over­all health. Car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease (CVD) is a dis­ease of the heart and blood ves­sels (veins and arter­ies). CVD is the lead­ing cause of death in women in Aus­tralia. There are many risk fac­tors for CVD, includ­ing age. The old­er you get, the greater your risk. Learn about heart changes as you get old­er and impor­tant heart health checks.
Hands holding red heart

Social connection

Stay­ing con­nect­ed to peo­ple in your fam­i­ly, friend­ship groups and com­mu­ni­ty is good for your health and well­be­ing. As you get old­er it can be hard to main­tain and build new rela­tion­ships. But there are many things you can do to stay social­ly con­nect­ed. Learn more about the health ben­e­fits of social con­nec­tions, changes that affect your social life, and help­ful tips and resources.
Mature woman and young woman smiling

Sex and sexual health when ageing

Good sex­u­al health means being able to enjoy a reg­u­lar and sat­is­fy­ing sex life by your­self or with oth­ers. Good sex­u­al health is impor­tant at any age. Learn more about things that can affect your sex life, and how you can have good sex­u­al health as you age.
Hand clenching bed sheet

Memory and cognition

Mem­o­ry and cog­ni­tion means how you learn, under­stand and remem­ber things. As you age, the brain changes and some things become hard­er, such as con­cen­trat­ing and remem­ber­ing. Oth­er brain func­tions become eas­i­er, such as hav­ing the abil­i­ty to see ​‘the big­ger pic­ture’ in sit­u­a­tions. Mem­o­ry and cog­ni­tion issues can be influ­enced by things such as stress, ill­ness, men­tal health con­di­tions, med­i­cines, reduced hear­ing or vision, or the onset of demen­tia. Hav­ing a pos­i­tive atti­tude and a healthy lifestyle can make a big dif­fer­ence. Learn more about mem­o­ry and cog­ni­tion and demen­tia, plus prac­ti­cal ways to main­tain your mem­o­ry and take care of yourself.
A group of women laughing

Emotional wellbeing as you age

As you get old­er, it’s impor­tant to look after your emo­tion­al well­be­ing as well as your phys­i­cal health. It can be hard to adjust to big life changes, such as retire­ment. You can also be affect­ed by issues like health prob­lems, loss of inde­pen­dence, the loss of loved ones and lone­li­ness. These changes can make you feel wor­ried, sad, anx­ious or even depressed. But it’s good to know there are many ways to feel men­tal­ly well as you age. Learn more about things that can affect your emo­tion­al well­be­ing, what you can do and sup­port ser­vices that can help.
Close up photo of a womans face

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This con­tent has been reviewed by a group of med­ical sub­ject mat­ter experts, in accor­dance with Jean Hailes pol­i­cy.

© Jean Hailes Foun­da­tion. All rights reserved.

1
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Older Australians Report, Health – status and functioning,
2
Rahman MM, Jagger C, Princehorn EM, et al. Onset and progression of chronic disease and disability in a large cohort of older Australian women. Maturitas. 2022;158:25-33