Grey Matters Day - 'use it, or lose it!'

ERoSH launches Grey Matters Day, a UK-wide awareness day promoting mental health awareness for older people, on Friday 21 July 2006.

Given the estimate that 40% of older people attending GP surgeries, 50% of general hospital patients and 60% of care home residents have mental health needs (source: Department of Health DH) ERoSH is urging its membership, which encompasses nearly 700,000 sheltered and retirement housing tenants across the UK, to 'use it or lose it' this Friday.

The DH's figures do not portray a pleasant picture of older age, but Grey Matters Day is challenging the ageist notion that going grey means going senile.  The over 50s have considerable leisure time and by engaging in new projects or learning new hobbies can help to maintain a healthy brain in later life, even helping to delay the onset of dementia.

Fiona Hought, who heads up the specialist mature marketing and communications agency, Millennium, says, "We are seeing the rise of the 'cognitive' age amongst mature consumers. This means people are physically and psychologically younger thanks to medical advances, healthier lifestyles and life experience. For some, retirement is the busiest and most fulfilling time of their lives and the over 50s continue to demonstrate they are an active generation, challenging the ageist stereotype.

"We have conducted many wide ranging surveys in the over 50s market and we believe that older consumers still strive to keep their minds active in later life. **A quarter of web users are now over 50 and 14% are over 70, **25% of over 50s are interested in current affairs, gardening is the most popular hobby by age group - 51.7% of over 50s, 52.8% of over 60s, 51.3% of over 70s."

Grey Matters Day aims to keep mental health awareness at the forefront of older people’s minds - helping people to become active or more active.

Michele Hollywood, who heads ERoSH's marketing group, said, "The evidence is that people are more health-aware and that today's over 65s are more socially and physically engaged than previous generations. However, lifestyles are increasingly more stressful than they once were, and older people are not immune from these changes. We are seeing more people suffer financial crises, divorce and work-related stress, making them three times more likely to suffer mental health problems as they age. Retirement housing is a preventative service, so Grey Matters Day is about encouraging older people to focus on simple activities that help to keep their grey cells active."

ERoSH’s members will celebrate Grey Matters Day by holding events throughout the UK. The range of activities planned varies from one off quizzes to regional tournaments involving 30 retirement housing schemes. Television games like 'Play Your Cards Right' also feature, as do reminiscence projects and healthy living events.

Grey Matters Day has been supported by NAPA (the National Association for Providers of Activities for Older People) and the Mental Health Foundation. It has also received the support of television personality Jennie Bond, actress Sue Nicholls and veteran broadcaster Joan Bakewell.

*Older Richer Wiser, Internet Usage e-survey 2006  The research posed 32 e-questions to over 10,000 50+ users and set out, amongst other things, to explore attitudes and ‘appropriateness’ of online advertising, use of search engines and navigation.
** GreyPower research 2003 surveyed opinions on numerous issues based on responses from over 20,000 British residents aged 50 or over.