Middle age spread is a reality, with people typically gaining a pound a year between the ages of 45 and 55. It's no mystery why - people tend to become less active while following their usual diet. On top of this, the ageing process promotes the replacement of muscle with fat and as your body composition changes your metabolism slows. You need to pay more attention now to diet and exercise than you've ever done before.

By Catherine Moore

You don’t have to start training for the marathon to make a difference. A US study of 15,500 people showed that middle-aged people who practise yoga regularly gain less weight that others and if they’re overweight to begin with they lose weight.

Try a 10-minute yoga workout

If you're struggling with weight loss try getting one to one help from a qualified dietitian or nutritionist. To find a private specialist see www.dietitiansunlimited.co.uk or www.nutritionsociety.org. Get more info on how you can lose weight and eat to help other medical problems from the British Dietetic Association at www.bda.uk.com.

Take our dieting and weight loss advice

If you haven't given up smoking yet it's not too late - if you stop smoking before the age of 50, you decrease the risk of dying from smoking-related diseases by 50%. You are much more likely to succeed if you get help giving up. Find your local NHS Stop Smoking service at https://data.gosmokefree.co.uk/localservicesearch.aspx or call the NHS Smoking Helpline on 0800 1690169.

Keep an eye on your LDL cholesterol levels (that's the bad kind of cholesterol) as these raise slightly with age and if they're high you're more likely to have heart disease or a stroke. Keep up with aerobic exercise like dancing and jogging and you can actually raise your HDL cholesterol levels (those are the good ones) which are thought to help prevent heart attacks.

How to lower your cholesterol

Bates Method practitioners believe you can bin your reading glasses and improve your middle aged long sightedness by exercising your eyes. Some swear by it, others think it's hokum. See what you think at www.seeing.org

As well as improving your core strength and protecting against back problems, it'll give you killer pelvic floor muscles. You'll need them as stress incontinence can become more of a problem after the menopause.

Sorry, but too much caffeine affects the balance of calcium in your body which can have an impact on whether or not you get osteoporosis. Weight bearing exercise like walking or tennis also helps guard against osteoporosis as do vitamin D and calcium supplements.

As well as all the other benefits of regular exercise, it's been shown to reduce brain tissue loss which can help you keep your memory sharp. Your memory will also stay at its best if you exercise your brain with puzzles and crosswords - and always get enough sleep.