Once I reached my 50s, I started hearing people talking about needing to ‘survive sniper’s alley’. I asked a GP friend what it meant, and she explained that, as we age, we are more likely to be diagnosed with common illnesses and diseases. Our friends and family are also aging with us, and it can begin to feel like we are being picked off one by one. 

This diagram by Cancer Research UK perfectly illustrates the issue. It shows all cancers (except non-melanoma skin cancer) – the average number of new cases per year and age-specific incidence rates per 100,000 population in the UK from 2017-2019:

As you can see, once we reach our late 40s, the numbers start climbing steeply. This is why it’s more important than ever to take care of our health – mental as well as physical – once we reach middle age. There are some health conditions, such as genetic, we can’t prevent, but there is a lot we can do to stave off other, lifestyle-related declines in our physical health. And by living well, we can help improve our outcomes in many other medical conditions. 

So what can you do to increase your chances of surviving sniper’s alley? Here are six positive things you can start doing today to boost your physical and mental health in middle age and beyond.

1) Accept you are in a new phase of life

This might be the trickiest step of all! But it’s important to understand that, as young as you may feel at heart, you are aging, and your body needs more care once you reach middle age. 

That means listening to your body if it tells you it’s tired, doesn’t want another drink at the end of the night, doesn’t need an extra cake or more chips, or doesn’t want to run an extra mile. That’s not to say you need to start acting like you’re an OAP, or making your life smaller or less adventurous, but simply embracing and respecting the phase of life you are in, and not exposing your body to unnecessary risk or stress by treating it like you are still 25. 

It’s less about defeat, and more about strategy. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, and if you over-extend yourself too early, you’ll run out of reserves faster. We need to make better lifestyle choices now so that some of the biggest silent killers don’t start coming for us later, such as high cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugars. 

2) Get your body fighting fit

Speaking of healthy choices, if you want to increase your chances of going through sniper’s alley unscathed, you are going to need to get your body battle fit. By the time you reach your 50s, your body has been through a few decades of wear and tear. Your metabolism is slowing, your hormones are changing and your muscle tone is, sadly, reducing. 

But that doesn’t mean you need to submit to an inevitable decline, and accept things like aching and stiffness as your daily burden. Instead it means you need to work harder. It’s time to train for longevity, and that means ensuring you are keeping fit with the right kind of exercise. Focus on strength training, flexibility and balance to start building your muscle mass back up – or at least stave off some of the loss. 

A combination of life’s stresses and hormones changes can make getting a good night’s sleep in your 50s harder. But sleep is incredibly important for good health; chronic sleep deprivation makes everything you’re trying to avoid worse, including weight gain, brain fog, inflammation, and mood swings. So practice good sleep hygiene and make sleeping well a high priority for yourself. 

You need to fuel your body with the right nutrients as well. That means eating plenty of real, unprocessed foods, moderate portions, and hydration. I personally like the Blue Zones approach to diet.

The earlier you spot any potential medical problems, the sooner you can take action and get treatment, and the better your outcome will usually be. So go for every screening you are invited to – mammograms, smears, wellness checks. (Here are nine health checks Age UK recommends.) And get medical advice as soon as you notice something unusual. 

3) Keep your mind sharp

It’s not just your body you need to keep as young as possible to survive sniper’s alley; you also need to age-proof your mind. 

Mental rigidity, such as getting stuck in old patterns, beliefs, or fears, can be just as limiting as physical decline. So keep curious. Learn new skills, try new hobbies, travel to new places, read widely and meet new people when you can. 

Cognitive decline doesn’t have to be an inevitable part of aging. Studies show that “cognitive-motor activities or stimulations facilitate neuro-protection” – in other words, keeping both your mind and body agile can help protect your brain from some of the effects of aging. 

It’s also very important that you don’t isolate. Loneliness as you age is said to be as unhealthy for you as smoking, so see friends and family, and make an effort to meet new people and make new friends. 

4) Accept your mortality

We often talk about the physical impacts of aging, but the psychological effects can be just as hard to come to terms with. 

Personally I found turning 50 hard. I suddenly realised that the likelihood was that I was past the halfway mark in my life. I was closer to 70 than 30, and over the next few decades my body was going to get frailer and I was going to lose people I love. Mortality hit me hard. 

My response to this was to take control of what I could. I focused more on my health, and made sure I spent plenty of time with friends and family. I also tried to reframe aging as a positive. Here are some of the things I realised:

• Aging well is more in our control than we realise
• With age comes greater wisdom, joy and gratitude – if we seek it
• I am more confident and self-aware as an older person
• There is still so much of life I can open up and explore
• Retirement will give me more time to travel and try new things

It also helps that I have good role models. My parents are fit, healthy and very active, with a better social life than me! And I have friends who are reaching their 60s and embracing having more time and money with travel and new adventures. 

This personal journey for me has also led me to launching this website. I realised part of the issue is that much of the messaging around aging and retirement didn’t connect with me; that I needed more inspiration and practical advice. I couldn’t find a positive resource for aging without getting old, so I created it myself. 

We know that our mental wellbeing is closely linked to our physical health, so if you’re finding dealing with your mortality hard (and let’s face it, we are confronted with it every time we look in a mirror!), find ways to make peace with it. After all, we can’t make time stop. It might help, like me, to look for the positives of aging, to take control of what you can to age well, and seeking out positive role models. 

5) Find the funny side

When it comes to getting through sniper’s alley, laughter really is the best medicine. Life can throw a lot at you in middle age – coping with teen children and empty nests, parents aging and maybe dying, long-term relationships breaking up, friends dealing with illness and divorce – so it’s all the more important that you find the light when you can. 

Seriously, laughter has many underrated health benefits. In the short term, it:

• Increases your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulating your heart, lungs and muscles, and boosting your endorphins
• Activates and relieves your stress response, making you feel more relaxed and well
• Stimulates your circulation and helps your muscles relax, which can reduce the physical symptoms of stress

And in the long term, finding more joy in life can:

• Improve your immune system
• Relieve pain
• Increase your sense of satisfaction
• Improve your mood

Finding the funny side in dark times can help – temporarily – ease tension and help you through. It can also be bonding sharing a funny moment with someone else in tough situations. That’s not to say you are trivialising a difficult situation, but simply finding a way to cope with it better. 

Over the decades, my friends and I have been through some ups and downs but we’ve always been able to laugh through them, with some pretty black humour on occasion. I am sure this has had a positive impact on us all, and prevented us from succumbing to helplessness and depression at times.  

6) Enjoy your life

And finally, it might sound like simplistic advice, but aging is inevitable, so you might as well try to enjoy your life… whatever it throws at you. 

Researchers have discovered that the ‘unhappiest’ decade is our 40s. Here are some of the cheery reasons why we’re apparently more miserable in middle age: “Many people have less autonomy and less financial security… When you’re younger, you’re not tied down with responsibilities, and there are more possibilities. In midlife, people might have mortgages to pay and adolescent children to look after.”

Also: “Your body might be starting to get aches and pains, and there’s less novelty in life. All of the things you were looking forward to when you were younger have either happened, or are looking less likely to happen.”

The good news, though is that things can start improving in our 50s. Our children grow up, reducing our day to day responsibilities. Ww also have greater life experience, and hopefully are looking forward to more freedom as retirement looms closer. 

If ‘snipers’ really are going to start picking off us and the people, we love, and our days left on earth reducing, then maybe we should embrace the life we are living now more fully. Actively seek out happiness, do the things we’ve always wanted to but made us excuses not to, and fill our days with meaning and joy. 

Hopefully this active, curious and cheery approach to life will help us to live longer, but even if not, at least it will means we’ll love the life we do have more.