Older people are more likely to drink alcohol above recommended levels than younger adults, but the relationship between age and exercise is less clear, according to two sets of figures.
Advice from the Chief Medical Officers suggests drinking no more than 14 units per week. While just 12.6 per cent of people aged 18-39 exceed this level, the percentages steadily rise with each age group.
Some 19.2 per cent of people in their 40s drink above the recommended limit, while over a quarter (26 per cent) of those in their 50s do so, rising to 28.2 per cent among those in their 60s.
The figures come from research by Our Future Health, which looked at the behaviour of almost 1.7 million people.
As well as raw alcohol consumption, the research looked at the regularity of drinking. Again the figures revealed that as people get older they tend to drink more regularly, as opposed to having a huge binge one day a week.
Less than two per cent of people in their 20s reported daily or near-daily alcohol consumption. This rose to six per cent for those in their 40s, to 14 per cent for those in their sixties and, for those in their 80s, it was nearly a quarter.
Dr Richard Piper, Chief Executive of charity Alcohol Change UK, told The Telegraph, “This is further encouraging evidence that cultural shifts around alcohol are possible, with younger generations drinking less often and at lower levels than those older than them.
He added, “Consumption is more frequent and at more harmful levels among those in middle and later life, likely due to decades of pervasive and poorly regulated advertising by alcohol companies normalising alcohol and creating the notion it is essential to our lives.”
Despite the apparent rise in alcohol consumption in older cohorts, the figures also suggested that older people are more physically active than their younger counterparts.
As with alcohol, there is government guidance on how much exercise to take – 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous exercise, combined with strength-building exercises on two days a week.
Over half (57.6 per cent) of 18 to 29 year olds meet this requirement, just behind 58.9 per cent of 60 to 69 year olds.
Only 52.4 per cent of those in their thirties meet the target, rising to 53.5 per cent in the forties and 56.2 per cent in the 50s.
