Inactivity increases with age but this rate of decline is not inevitable. The decline in health so often associated with growing older can be reversed. Increased fitness can achieve this at any age and no matter how many long-term conditions the person has.
Older people are one of the four priority groups Active Sussex supports to become and remain physically active. At present, activity levels begin to decline around the age of 50. This decline accelerates as people move into their 60s and 70s, and by 85 the majority of residents are inactive. But this rate of decline is not inevitable. The decline in health so often associated with growing older can be reversed. Increased fitness can achieve this at any age and no matter how many long-term conditions the person has.
The Stronger for Life project aimed to increase provision of community strength and balance sessions for people aged 65 and over and to ensure there is buy-in from the health system in West Sussex, allowing the approach to be ‘system led’. Click below to download the summary of the report.
Use the filters below to explore physical inactivity and activity levels by age bracket and area over time. Missing values mean there were insufficient responses from that age bracket-activity level in an area to report.
Sussex has an ageing population in comparison to the rest of England. Eleven of the thirteen lower-tier local authorities have higher median ages than the national average. Only Brighton and Crawley have median ages below the national average.
Older people are overrepresented in some areas. Use the map below to target interventions to the areas with the highest proportion of older people.
Older people on low incomes are less likely to be physically active. This map combines the Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index with the % of residents aged 65-85 in each neighbourhood.