Top ten ways to feel instantly young again

1. Change your routine

If you usually get up at 8am, have breakfast while reading the news, then go for a walk to the shops, do it differently for a week. For example, instead, get up at 7.30am, walk to the nearest café and have breakfast there instead. By changing your routine in this way you’ll expose yourself to new activities and people, and keep things feeling fresh and new.

2. Refresh your look with a haircut

Get a haircut, shave the beard or mustache, or go to get a make-up makeover at a department store. If that’s not doable, try dying your hair at home, using curling tongues or curlers for a new look, or simply try different make-up or clothes.

Growing a beard to suit your face shape

3. Discover somewhere new and make yourself feel young again

It needn’t be an expensive worldwide cruise, even a simple train or bus journey to a British town you’ve never been to before is enough to open your eyes and make you feel young again. Spend time exploring on your own or with friends, visit a museum or art gallery, browse the shops, and enjoy a meal or coffee while you’re there.

4. Go down memory lane to rediscover your youth

Looking back on your life needn’t make you feel old, quite the reverse in fact, when you realise how easily you can slip back into your teenage mindset by listening to music from that time, or looking at photos.  

Unlimited access to a qualified GP with Saga Health Insurance - you'll have access 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to a GP consultation service. Find out more about our GP phone service.

5. Go back to school or university

It’s never to late to learn to do something new. Plumbing, watercolour painting, a new language – sign up for a class to discover your hidden talents. Even if you’re no good at it, you’ll enjoy the learning experience.

6. Spend some time with the kids

Spending time with children is a great way to feel young again as you can’t help but laugh along with them. You can offer to read to children at your local library or church, have your grandchildren over for an afternoon or take them to the park.

Inspiring outdoor ideas to keep grandchildren entertained

7. Enjoy a fairground ride

If you can stomach the rollercoaster, go for it, but if not, try going on the carousel or at least the ghost train. Getting scared and then experiencing relief helps release endorphins, which’ll make you feel young.  

8. Spend a day at the seaside

There's nothing like paddling in the sea, eating an ice cream as you stroll along the prom, and even getting the sand out of between your toes, to rekindle childhood memories and recapture the feeling of just being a kid again.

9. Look for volunteering opportunities

Giving up your own time for someone else makes you feel younger because it shows you how much you still have to give to the world. Go to timebank.org to find all kinds of volunteering opportunities.

5 top ways to volunteer in retirement

10. Listen to some fast music

Research shows that music set to a fast beat gets our hearts beating faster as well as releasing endorphins. It needn't be modern music either – there's plenty of classical music set to a fast beat (think of any chase scene in classic old films, for example), as well as more recent pop music.

Need to talk to a GP from the comfort of your own home? Saga Health Insurance customers can talk to a qualified, practising UK GP 24 hours a day by phone. Find out more about our GP service.