Presenter Gaby Roslin believes she has cracked the code to health and happiness in midlife.
Having lost her mother aged just 61 to smoking-induced lung cancer, and more recently, in 2023, her close friend Paul O’Grady, Gaby has been on a longevity mission to look after her mind, body and soul.
She opened up to Ateh Jewel on this week’s Second Act podcast about how waves of loss will arise when she least expects it - and shared her ultimate tips of how to stay in shape and how to feel more positive when life feels it is all too much.
“I started reading everything I could about health and nutrition. I don't have any letters after my name, and I've never done an exam about it, but I will read,” says Gaby, who has been tee-total for eight years.
“I remember going on about gut health and too much sugar and processed food for a long time, because when I was reading about it. I was just thinking, what are we doing to ourselves?”
“I think it's really important to remember that there are no rules to grief,” says the mother-of-two and host of Reason’s To Be Joyful podcast. “I got a show the other day, and for a split second I mean, it's so tiny but for a split second I thought, ‘oh, I haven't told mum,’ but it's not a sad way. It's so quick.
“I remember after mum died, I got one of the biggest shows that I ever did, a show called Whatever You Want, which was a huge Saturday night game show on the BBC - I was really thrilled and excited and delighted. And I remember having moments of, ‘oh, maybe I shouldn't feel excited now’ but you are allowed…It doesn’t take the sadness away. The sun will come up again.”
The former Big Breakfast presenter - who declines to divulge her age, preferring she says she say she is 33 - has a non-negotiable fitness regime. and is often spotted in the gym at least three times a week. “I do look after myself,” she says. “Walking is so good for you physically, but it's also really good for your mental health as well. I get all of my ideas from walking around looking up. I look up at buildings, I listen to conversations, I listen to the bus, all of those because those small little glimmers of joy as well.
“I go to the gym a lot. I do HIIT workouts at home. And I lift weights all the time. I always have done, it's really good for you to stave off dementia they've now found out. I've done, yoga and Pilates and in the past and as we get older, you've got to do weights.”
Gaby's happiness hacks
If midlife has hit a rocky road and you are finding it challenging for you, here are Gaby’s four simple life hacks to putting a pep in your step and keep happy if life becomes challenging in midlife.
- First thing in the morning before you open your eyes, don't reach for your phone.
- Before you do anything else, smile. If you just lift your cheeks, you smile. There's actual scientific proof that what it does in your brain is your brain says, ‘oh, today's okay’.
- Then walk into the bathroom and look in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, smile at yourself. Don't think, oh, there's a new wrinkle. Oh, there's gray hair. Oh. I didn't do my eyebrows. Oh, look how far I've no smile at yourself.
- And then when you've done all of that, I want you to jump. Do three jumps, on the second jump, you jump with your arms in the air and then the third jump you do with your arms in the air and a big smile on your face. After three jumps you will feel better.
“It's incredible,” says Gaby. “I've had huge theaters of people all jumping at the same time, and suddenly you feel invigorated and you feel better and you feel ready to cope.”
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