What you can expect from this course

This course is structured into five weeks which are themed around the key ideas behind successful ageing. You can expect to learn more about the best strategies for ageing successfully through practical tips that have come from research, and are delivered by experts in the field Ageing.

• Week 1: Being Older In this first week, we look at how perceptions of ageing can influence ageing, and explore our own understanding of what ‘old’ is.

• Week 2: Being Well In the second week, we investigate strategies for improving mental health, including depression, anxiety and brain ageing. We also discuss what ‘quality of life’ means, and delve into other key areas for successful ageing including intimacy, how to talk to your doctor, and family solidarity.

• Week 3: Being Healthy In the third week of our course, we will give strategies for better nutrition, increasing physical fitness through exercise, and improving your brain health.

• Week 4: Being Engaged The fourth week of the course looks at another important area for successful ageing: social engagement and participation. You will have a chance to perform a life audit and learn strategies for how to plan for the future.

• Week 5: Being Creative In the final week of the course, we will explore creative ageing, what this means, and why it is important. We will showcase individual creativity and provide you with tips to explore your own creativity.

In many of the steps we will be asking you questions to reflect on and post your comments to other learners. As well as these focused questions, each week we will also be posing a “Question of the Week” which we invite you to share your strategies and thoughts on the key messages of the course.

Each step also contains a glossary of words, interesting links, and documents that you can download for more information about the research being presented.

At the end of the five weeks, we will ask you to reflect on each of these strategies. We will also ask you to select strategies and put them into practice.

Each week includes an infographic which summarises the strategies, key points and data presented during the week. You can download and print these out, so you can share strategies with others.

Remember, although the course is structured into five weeks, there is no rush to complete the course in five weeks. You can access the course at any time after the course has finished if you upgrade.

When you are finished reading this article, click on the ‘Mark as Complete’ pink circle on the right-hand side below. Then click on the arrow below to bring you to the next step in the course.