By Sean Boyle

Life Expectancy in Scotland has dropped as low to record we have not seen in a decade.

The decline means that men in Scotland are now only expected to live for an average of 76.5 years and women for 80.7 years. This means that life expectancy for men has dropped by 32 weeks on average since 2017-2019, with the figure for females across the country declining by 21.5 weeks.

So what can you do to stay active and keep healthy? Well of course to start off you need to eat better, this obviously includes eating less sugar and fat foods. And then of course eating more fruit and vegetables.

Though you don’t completely need to stop eating or drinking your favourite foods, you need a good balance in your diet. As dietitian Kerri Major says that if a dietitian tells you to stop eating your favourite foods you should ‘run for the hills.’

“Can you add in a piece of fruit or veg at your breakfast or can you make a snack slightly more healthy, that you make a slightly better choice, and it’s not saying you need to cut out x y and z because I think a lot of people expect dietitians to tell them to exclude their favourite foods Which I would say if anyone tells you to do that you need to run for the hills.”

One reason why life expectancy is lower in Scotland is due to increased alcohol and drug use here.

One of the biggest reasons why alcohol and drugs are used so often as Professor Gerry McCartney from the University of Glasgow states is that it is used for ‘an escape.‘

“It’s not a lack of information or understanding that drives people to take drugs or not take drugs it’s usually about their social circumstances and how it is an escape.”

And speaking of escapes, A healthy escape would be taking part in some sort of sports activity or club. This could be joining a fitness class or joining a local sports team or club.

This can help you massively as this will keep you healthier physically but also mentally as you will be socializing with other people who there also to take part in the activity and to get active.

Keiran O’Hare who worked at the St Mirren Community trust for many years which included fitness classes which were aimed at football fans to get more active, he stated that joining clubs helps people ‘develop themselves.’

“When you see people active and doing sport and stuff they always seem to get a motivational boost to their moods and mental health, them being out and about will help them with social skills and develop themselves.”