Design expert and TV personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen says the UK needs to overhaul its attitude to aging to avoid a “tsunami of health problems”.

The former Locker Room host and Strictly Come Dancing contestant said that if people “don’t take responsibility for their own health”, the country will be crippled as more people suffer from age-related health problems that require expensive treatment.

The flamboyant 59-year-old father-of-two, who lives in Gloucestershire, said: “As older people it depends on us. We are facing a tsunami of elderly people with poor health who need care. We have to take care of ourselves. Don’t drink too much, don’t smoke, do more exercise and broaden our horizons. If we all did this for ourselves, there would be no tsunami. No government can solve this problem. Change must come from within you.

She added that aging well is not just about living healthily, but also “being brave” and “having fun.”

He said: “I’m designing a stairlift for my home with a built-in minibar so that if it gets stuck in the middle of the stairs, I don’t have to worry about getting dehydrated. You don’t want to be sitting around like a cat lady surrounded by People’s Friend magazines and cat medicine. Make sure to store your belongings. I can’t stand it. You need to change your world, and by talking about that change, I might change the version of older people they are when they read your article in the Sunday Express.

The outspoken celebrity added: “I have about 20 years to live. I want 20 years of happiness. I didn’t spend 20 years sewing last year – just get rid of it. What for? We were wrong. We need to focus on how beautiful something is, not on how young it is. You don’t have to have a tense face. My knees are starting to buckle, but I won’t give up my Cuban high heels, even if I have to wear them with a pair of sandals.

“It’s all about attitude. Open your hands to beige or keep dancing. If you can’t dance like you used to, learn a new dance. Do it and dance. Don’t do that and mix it up. We have to be realistic about our lives and circumstances. Things are good when you are in your 30s, but they are no longer so good when you are in your 60s, but you should never give up. Older people need to take action and know that we cannot use the judgment of young people to determine who we are. Growing up, we expected all the baby boomers to be punk rockers, to be Sid Vicious – now that we’re old, we’re all saggy and saggy, us boys have tits. We have to be more realistic and forget about being Apollo. Yes, you will look baggy, but you don’t have to forget about your life. Keep changing. Never stop being brave – I never feel like I’m 60, 40, or 18. I am always amazed at my age. The worst thing humanity has ever done is numbers. Do we need to know what time it is? How old are we? Get rid of the numbers!

Llewelyn-Bowen, who has now moved into design for Rangeford – a company that runs luxury retirement villages across the UK – added: “People are paying with resources they don’t need and living in as big a house as they can.” You can’t afford to live a decent life, in houses they can’t afford to heat. As you get older, you need to examine your space and how it works. I wanted to work with Rangeford as soon as I heard about them. I firmly believe that this retirement home will make a difference in the lives of the elderly. It’s about how we create a space and lifestyle for all of us who want to be independent in old age rather than left behind in the community.

And he added: “We need to find a new word for retirement – ​​previous generations worked so hard physically that retirement is different. Now, what do we learn from? Often we avoid sitting in front of a computer screen, and when we stop, we tend to be more physically active. Retirement is now more about reincarnation, and essentially about looking at your life and doing it differently. People really need to think about the world they need to be in order to become what they need to be. »