Health: Active Lifestyles

Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Heyhoe-Flint, for securing this debate and for supporting it with such eloquence and commitment. I would much rather face her across the civilised Chamber of the House of Lords than across a cricket pitch. She is a splendid supporter of active lifestyles and was an outstanding president of the Lady Taverners, of whom I am also one. The Lady Taverners raises funds to provide equipment to encourage young disabled people to play cricket, basketball and many other sports—very much part of an active lifestyle.

Active lifestyles should begin at a young age and carry on into old age. I had the pleasure last week of hearing much of the debate in your Lordships’ House on older people. They were magnificent and inspirational speeches. I want to mention wise words from just two of the speakers. The most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the importance of older people being participants in society, not passengers. My noble friend Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, in a very moving speech, spoke of maintaining a sense of selfhood in old age. There is good evidence that an active lifestyle can help to maintain dignity, a sense of self and participation in society. Active means active in all senses—physical and mental. It is a preventive measure; a protective factor in health.

There is popular book called 100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s by Jean Carper, an American. In chapter 15 the author advises us to “Be a busy body”. The more you move, the better you think. It is also true that the more you move, the better you move. I am not sure how conkers features here.

Thinking is part of an active, healthy lifestyle. Brains must be active too. I am very impressed by the University of the Third Age. It is wonderfully and proudly local and easy to get to in many communities. It offers a tremendous variety of activity including languages, history, flower arranging, craft and literature, as well as sport. I was somewhat surprised when my husband embarked on a study of Ulysses in a group. For older people to tackle one of the most difficult novels in the English language is surely designed to develop brain power to the extreme. I found it challenging at the age of 20.

The U3A provides an example of how to engage people in activity. It is promoted well, with enormous variety on offer, and is easily accessible by local communities. A three-year study reported recently in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry states that an active social life is important in maintaining physical and mental health. Exercise, good nutrition and not smoking are cited as having a beneficial impact on health in older people. These examples emphasise that not just physical health but mental and emotional health can be improved. Keeping the mind active, as well as the body, is important. Maintaining health and well-being is primarily of benefit to individuals but would also save millions, possibly even billions, when we consider the costs of care and drugs, particularly for older people. Sport England estimates that increasing physical activity could save about £3 billion a year in healthcare costs.

We are not, I think, surprised by such evidence. Reports from the four home countries’ Chief Medical Officers, the BMA and the Royal College of Physicians all point to the importance of the benefits of physical activity. Activity not only increases mobility, but can have an impact on a range of medical problems such as osteoporosis and diabetes.

I have some figures from the Sport England Active People survey. This indicates that there has been a growth in people doing sport at least once a week: 15.5 million; 750,000 more than a year ago. There has, not surprisingly, been an increase since the London 2012 Olympic Games. Participation by disabled people has also risen steadily since 2005, but still lags behind that for people who are not disabled. Sport England has announced a £10.2 million National Lottery initiative to encourage disabled people to take part in sport.

Sport England also wants to increase the number of young people between the ages of 16 and 25 taking part in physical activity. Progress has been made, but not enough. Surely getting children and young people to participate is the key to encouraging active lifestyles for life. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Heyhoe Flint, I worry about government policy for schools, not just for sport but for leisure activities such as music and drama. All this is relevant to being active. We all know many people who have, at school, discovered talents and interests in all kinds of creative arts and sport. I wonder, together with many others outside this Chamber, whether changes to the school curriculum, such as the EBacc, will remove opportunities for young people to develop their potential in being creative and engaging in physical activity, something that could influence and enhance their lifestyles for ever. That would be short-sighted. I look for reassurance from the Minister.

The Women’s Sports Network has concerns about the place of women in sport. I have just received an e-mail asking me to help encourage more coverage of women’s sport on TV. There is a terrible deficit here. At a recent meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s Sport and Fitness, Clare Balding and Kathy Grainger issued a rallying call for more coverage of women’s sport in the media. Our sporting heroines, who will inspire more girls and young women to take part in sport than possibly anything else, are, in contrast to some of the men, poorly paid, and lacking sponsorship.

There is good news. National governing bodies of sport seem to be aware of the problem and are encouraging greater coverage for women. Apparently, 53.6% of adults say they would like to take part in more sport. So why do they not? I repeat my point that beginning to take part in sport and exercise at an early age is a good predictor of maintaining an interest in exercise. In particular, exercise such as Pilates, yoga and dance may encourage girls, women and older people to participate.

On the example of the University of the Third Age, the offering of activity must be local, cheap or free, and attractive. We need two things. First, there must be a national strategy—mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Heyhoe Flint—to encourage people from a very young age to a very old age to participate in physical and mental activity. The benefits are proven, the research is there. Secondly, people also need local policies and strategies which target their populations from an early age with campaigns, joining up opportunities for sporting activity in clubs and schools with the chance to participate in social and mental activities in groups. A readily accessible visible continuum of possibilities is needed. This would encourage active lifestyles, which would result in physical, mental, emotional and social benefits to society.