The WHO recommends that adults get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking or cycling, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity. That's about 30 minutes, five days a week. Yet nearly one in three adults worldwide falls short. Walking or cycling to work already counts.
Chlorine on its own is fairly gentle. But when it combines with urine, sweat and other grime from swimmers, it forms chloramines, which cause stinging eyes and that classic 'chlorine smell'. A well-kept pool barely smells at all. Shower before you swim and never pee in the water.
Muscle mass slowly shrinks with age, putting independence at risk. But in 1990, a study had nursing home residents aged 86 to 96 train their legs for eight weeks: their strength more than doubled. Muscle responds to training at any age. Getting up from a chair without using your hands is already an exercise.