As we get older, daily activities can become harder and most of us talk about a lack of energy.
Enter Alix Bradfield with her new book Energy For Life (Affirm Press, $19.99).
Alix imparts the most essential expert advice to keep mind, body and soul in peak condition in this health and well-being handbook for readers aged 50-plus.
In her top-to-toe guide, Alix interviews a wide range of experts, psychologists, doctors and specialists to provide practical advice on everything from managing pain, forming healthier habits and getting enough sleep, to finding energy and peace within.
And who better to guide us to these conclusions than Alix, whose parents were once officially the oldest living couple in Australia with a combined age of 206.
"Somewhere in midlife, we notice our energy levels dipping and our daily activities becoming more challenging," Alix said.
"My curiosity about how lifestyle choices affect us as we age led me to look for easy-to-adopt health tips, and I loved distilling this expert advice for getting the most out of life."
Alix lost her first tooth at the top of a tree in Cuba and although she no longer climbs trees, she has remained physically active for all her 70-plus years.
Her grown-up kids and grandchildren consider her to be 'disciplined' but Alix prefers to think that keeping healthy simply leads to having more fun, more choices and time to reach out to others.
Alix is a former relationship counsellor, career strategy consultant and columnist for the Herald, and co-wrote Job Loss: It's A Family Affair.
Highlights include:
- Practical advice for how to make small but realistic changes to your lifestyle to improve your mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing
- Building resilience through exercise, with personal trainer and myotherapist Francis Coffa
- Connection, choice and a sense of humour, with psychologist Sabina Read
- Food as medicine, with naturopath Daniel Cerny
- Optimism and health, with Victor Perton, founder of The Centre for Optimism
- Protecting the pleasure of music and conversation, with audiologist Poly Loakes
- Slowing down to stay well, with physiotherapist Simon Davey.
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