Professor Dawn Skelton stars in Global Ageing Conference

Professor Dawn Skelton

Glasgow Caledonian University Professor of Ageing and Health Dawn Skelton will deliver the final keynote speech at the Global Ageing Conference in Glasgow this week.

Hundreds of experts and delegates from 48 countries worldwide will attend the major international conference on global ageing at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) on September 7 and 8, 2023.

The conference theme is Care about Our Future: Global Symposium for Sustainable Care and Support, and the event is hosted in partnership with Scottish Care and the National Care Forum – leading care and support provider associations in Scotland and England.

Professor Skelton is based in the Department of Physiotherapy and Paramedicine and is a member of the Falls and Frailty programme within the Ageing Well Research Group in the School of Health and Life Sciences' Research Centre for Health (ReaCH).

She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Professor Skelton wants to get across the message that falls and frailty "are preventable and reversible" and "frailty is not a one-way street - we do not have to just get frailer".

She said that not enough is being done at present to intervene when older adults are "transitioning" into frailty or to emphasise the vital importance of exercise in keeping people stronger, healthier and more independent for longer.

Professor Skelton added: "We all know we should be eating five fruit and veg a day, but physical activity just isn't on the agenda. It's not the first thing that ever comes out of a GP's mouth.

"It's all about pills, alcohol, giving up smoking, but physical activity has the strongest evidence base for maintaining independence and ageing successfully.

"You might well still get your medical condition but the symptoms won't bother you as much, and you won't be as incapacitated by them if you're physically active."

Professor Skelton was featured in a Special Report about the conference in the Herald Scotland – read more here https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23756865.growing-old-staying-well-frailty-lockdowns-ageism/.

She was also featured in an in-depth article in healthandcare.scot - https://healthandcare.scot/stories/3582/falls-frailty-prevention-fractures-programmes-dawn-skelton-glasgow-caledonian. Find out more about the Global Ageing Conference - https://globalageing2023.com/

Professor Skelton is also the Scottish Ambassador of a new ageing well national health campaign entitled Take Five to Age Well, developed by The Open University, in collaboration with many other charities and organisations supporting healthy ageing.

Professor Skelton said: “This campaign highlights the key things we can all do to help ourselves age successfully. We should be able to enjoy our later years, do the things we want to do, see the people we want to see, but we are more prone to developing health conditions that may seem insurmountable. The five themes of this campaign, and the simple tips and small changes that can become a habit, can all make a big difference to our enjoyment of life in our later years.”