It’s fair to say that the past few years have given me food for thought. Gone are the halcyon days of my youth when I embarked on every physical activity on offer with no thought for what it might be doing to my body! I can still vividly recall racing effortlessly around a hockey pitch, a basketball, squash or tennis court, swimming, horse riding, playing cricket or lacrosse.

Thank goodness for happy memories!

As I enter the fourth quarter of the first century of my life, body parts are failing. Several joints have been replaced, my heart stopped beating briefly, my bone density isn’t what it was, my thyroid is misbehaving and goodness knows where my muscles have gone.

‘Mum’ said my eldest daughter, Kate, ‘you can’t do anything about the fact that you’re getting older, but there are things you can do about looking after your body’. She recommended that I start doing some regular resistance exercises to strengthen my major muscle groups, as well as continuing to eat well and take some supplements.

Sound advice! So I went to see my physiotherapist and he completely agreed. So now I’ve got quite a list to add to my daily walk and gardening. It’s a routine that’s quite easy to get used to and, if it’s going to help my body to last longer, then it’s worth it. You might think it’s worth finding out more about it too from your physiotherapist. And the beauty of the exercises is that they can be done standing or sitting in front of the television, instead of becoming a couch potato at the end of a long day!

We don’t know when our lives will come to an end but I think it’s important to give ourselves the best chance we can of remaining healthy and happy right up to the final moment.

So thanks, Kate, for the wakeup call - and back to the exercises …