How do I stay healthy in my 70s?

‘People in their 70s often say that they don’t feel old, and the reason for it is that they don’t meet the definition of old we often use.’ Illustration: Ananya Broker Parekh/The Guardian

Today’s septuagenarians are different from the ones who came before. “Many transitions that are happening now at 70 are the types of transitions people in previous generations might have experienced in their early 60s,” says Jeffrey Stokes, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston who studies ageing.

People in this group are becoming grandparents and retiring later, Stokes explains. They can also expect to live longer.