Fitness guru, 81, says changing your POSTURE is key to keeping you feeling younger

A pensioner who can still do the splits and runs her own exercise classes has revealed how just straightening your posture can keep you feeling younger.

Lee Janogly, 81, from London, appears on ITV’s Tonight: How to Age Well? to explain why ‘it’s so important to keep our body moving when we’re older’ as she showcases her youthful look.

The grandmother is a super-ager, meaning she has the fitness of someone half her age. She has kept herself active through the decades thanks to teaching dance and exercise classes.

‘I’m 81. How did that happen? I don’t feel 81’, she said during her appearance on the programme, which airs tomorrow at 7.30pm. 

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Pictured: Lee Janogly, 81, from London, at her piano

A pensioner (pictured) who can still do the splits and runs her own exercise classes has revealed how just straightening your posture can keep you feeling younger

Lee Janogly (pictured in 1999), 81, from London, appears on ITV's Tonight: How to Age Well? to explain why 'it's so important to keep our body moving when we're older' as she showcases her youthful look

Lee Janogly (pictured in 1999), 81, from London, appears on ITV’s Tonight: How to Age Well? to explain why ‘it’s so important to keep our body moving when we’re older’ as she showcases her youthful look

‘It’s so important to keep our body moving especially as we get older,’ Lee says, while astonishing pictures illustrate her unchanging physique aged 40, 50 and amazingly today. 

But the fitness guru says people of a certain age don’t have to do the splits to feel younger – it can be as simple as changing their posture.

She explains: ‘Around the age of about 50. There’s a little hint, a perceivable slump of the shoulders, and this is a very old look. 

The grandmother (pictured aged 40) is a super-ager, meaning she has the fitness of someone half her age

The grandmother, pictured aged 80

The grandmother (pictured aged 40, left, and aged 80, right) is a super-ager, meaning she has the fitness of someone half her age

'I'm 81. How did that happen? I don't feel 81', she said during her appearance on the programme. Lee pictured in 1982, then aged 40, centre, and aged 80, right

‘I’m 81. How did that happen? I don’t feel 81’, she said during her appearance on the programme. Lee pictured in 1982, then aged 40, centre, and aged 80, right

‘But look what happens if I just pull in, straighten up, shoulders back, head up. Pow – different person,’ mother-of-five Lee says after demonstrating the move.

The NHS suggests over 65s should do two and a half hours of exercise a week and try to keep a balanced diet like Lee, whose book called ‘Getting Old Deal With it’ talks about keeping your body and mind active.

‘I usually go for loads of vegetables’, explains Lee when detailing her diet. ‘I like all the pretty colours on the plate. Usually I roast them and which I will have with some sort of protein, chicken or salmon.’ 

Lee (pictured teaching a dance class in 1982) has kept herself active through the decades thanks to teaching dance and exercise classes

Lee (pictured teaching a dance class in 1982) has kept herself active through the decades thanks to teaching dance and exercise classes

'It's so important to keep our body moving especially as we get older,' Lee (pictured in the '80s) says, while astonishing pictures illustrate her unchanging physique aged 40, 50 and amazingly today

‘It’s so important to keep our body moving especially as we get older,’ Lee (pictured in the ’80s) says, while astonishing pictures illustrate her unchanging physique aged 40, 50 and amazingly today

But it’s not only keeping fit and having a healthy diet that is important to Lee, with the grandmother admitting she tries to keep her mind feeling younger too.

‘My mother and her sister both had dementia, so this does not bode well for me,’ confesses the grandmother. 

‘I’m trying to keep my brain ticking over by teaching myself to play the piano. I mean, I can do a couple of riffs, you know. Well, that’s about it.’ 

The government has said it wants Britons to live an extra five healthier years, by 2035.

But the fitness guru (pictured aged 80) says people of a certain age don't have to do the splits to feel younger - it can be as simple as changing their posture

Lee, pictured at 80-years-old

But the fitness guru (pictured aged 80) says people of a certain age don’t have to do the splits to feel younger – it can be as simple as changing their posture

Lee (pictured) explains: 'Around the age of about 50. There's a little hint, a perceivable slump of the shoulders, and this is a very old look'

Lee (pictured) explains: ‘Around the age of about 50. There’s a little hint, a perceivable slump of the shoulders, and this is a very old look’

In tomorrow’s ITV Tonight report, actor and musician Martin Kemp looks at the steps people can take when it comes to looking after themselves as they get older.

Associate Professor James Brown, who is an expert in ageing at Aston Research Centre for Healthy Aging, says: ‘It really is about us adopting as a nation those healthy lifestyles. 

‘If we can maintain that through the lifespan from children through middle age to older adults, we’re maintaining a healthy weight, getting enough exercise, having broad social networks, so our mental health is good.

‘That’s the best thing we can do to try and ensure the health of everybody as they get older.’

Tonight: How to Age Well? is on ITV on Thursday 7:30pm.