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Older people need pilates lessons for their birthday instead of chocolates, says Green Goddess

Diana Moran became famous for her 'Green Goddess' exercise routines on breakfast TV - PA
Diana Moran became famous for her 'Green Goddess' exercise routines on breakfast TV - PA

Older people should be given a course of pilates lessons as a birthday gift rather than slippers or chocolates, according to Diana Moran, the ‘Green Goddess’ exercise guru.

Moran, 78, said people in their 60s and 70s can have greater fitness than millennials because they did no spend their childhoods playing video games.

However, it is essential that they continue to exercise in old age, she told an audience at the Oxford Literary Festival.

Moran, who earned her nickname when she appeared on BBC breakfast television in a green leotard, said: “I see people in gym classes that are in their 60s and 70s that are much fitter than those in their 30s and 40s. They had to walk to school, were made to do sport and PE, and because of that our bone bank is stronger.

“When I ask for presents I ask for pilates lessons, things to help my hobbies and stimulate my brain, not slippers and chocolates.”

Moran has co-written a book, Sod Sitting, Get Moving! With Prof Sir Muir Gray, clinical advisor to Public Health England.

Prof Gray urged older people to find exercise classes that they enjoy, and to walk everywhere if they can.

“We have this thing where, if our elderly mum is getting on and she can’t get to the shops any more, that we go and help her. This is completely wrong. We need more activity with every year that passes,” he said.

“I don’t find gyms very welcoming for older gentleman and ladies. They’re full of young pups wearing very little clothes and lifting heavy weights around.

“But things are slowly changing, there are some great classes out there, and socialising while exercising is very important,” he said.

He warned that the younger generations are setting themselves up for an unhealthy old age, particularly for the growing number of people who work from home. “They often slide out of bed, into the office, via the kitchen and that’s it,” he said.

For those who commute to a desk job, things are not much better, according to Prof Gray, with the combination of inactivity and stress providing the basis for joint and brain problems. He said: “Desk jobs are like the polluted water problems of the 1970s.

“I want Bear Grylls to commute from Barking into London and sit at a desk for nine hours - now that’s a challenge.”