- 80-year-old Sheila Stothard never drives and walks everywhere.
- She shared her tips for staying active and healthy into old age with Business Insider.
- These include adding walking to your day and eating healthy.
At 80, Sheila Stothard can’t imagine not being able to run with her great-grandchildren.
Stothard, who lives in Ontario, Canada, has always been active and hasn’t slowed down since she turned 80. Her nephew, fitness influencer Phil Mackenzie, told Business Insider that she “moves the most of anyone I’ve ever met.”
Trying to stay active in older age is becoming a huge business opportunity – longevity and related therapies were a $25.1 billion market in 2020, projected to reach $44.2 billion by 2030, according to Allied Market Research.
Research shows that it’s a healthy lifestyle like Stothard’s that gives you the best chance of being so active in your 80s. BI recently reported on a study that found people who led an unhealthy lifestyle were 78% more likely to die early than people with healthier habits. .
Stothard shared the parts of her healthy lifestyle that she believes have helped her stay looking great at age 80.
Phil Mackenzie’s grandparents are 80 and 84 and still super active. Phil Mackenzie
Build the walk into your life
Stothard never drives or takes public transport and instead walks everywhere.
“I don’t do gym or anything to keep fit. I just feel like it’s too much to do at this age,” she said. “I just walk everywhere and we’re in Toronto, where there’s a lot of hills. I feel like that’s good enough for me.”
A 2017 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who walked for five to 10 hours a week at a moderate or brisk pace had a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and any other cause.
And you don’t have to walk for long to reap the benefits of walking, BI reported in a 2023 study by researchers at the University of Cambridge, which found that 11 minutes of exercise a day can reduce the risk of dying from chronic diseases like p . heart disease and cancer.
Eat home cooked meals
Stothard cooks everything from scratch at home and tries to eat raw and healthy foods. She eats lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, chicken, fish (“at least once a week”), baked potatoes and sweet potatoes.
She also said she tries not to overeat.
Both habits are related to longevity. In a 2023 study, participants who ate a healthy, whole-foods diet similar to Stothard’s lived an average of 10 years longer than participants who ate an unhealthy diet, BI previously reported.
And stopping eating before you’re full is a common habit among supercentenarians in Japan, although research into whether long-term calorie restriction is beneficial for longevity in humans is still in its early stages.
Get enough sleep
“I would think I would sleep if I woke up after six in the morning,” Stothard said. She is very consistent with her sleep routine and never has late nights, preferring to be in bed by 9.30pm.
You don’t have to wake up early to live longer, but research shows that a good 7 to eight hours of sleep a night is essential for longevity.
And good news for people who like to lie in on the weekends — research presented at a conference earlier this year suggests that sleeping in on days off may help lower the risks of heart disease, BI previously reported.