TOPLEY’S TOP 10 February 13, 2025

1. BABA Stock Breaks Above David Tepper China Call Highs… +40% YTD

StockCharts


2. Chinese Internet KWEB +17% YTD…Not Yet at Previous David Tepper Highs

StockCharts

Bloomberg


3. Coke vs. Pepsi War…KO Straight Up vs. PEP

StockCharts


4. European Financials +13% Year to Date…New Highs in Chart

StockCharts


5. Leverage Long ETFs at Record Levels

There are is a record ~$95bn in leveraged long ETFs vs. just ~$9bn in their bearish counterparts.

Bloomberg


6. The Number of People Turning 65 Every Day by Country

Wealth of Common Sense


7. Work From Home Number Staying Sticky at 30%

Via Wolf Street: Of all full-time employees, 13% were full WFH in late 2024, while 26% were in a hybrid-WFH situation, so about 39% were at partially or fully WFH, according to the study. The remaining 61% were working fully on site.

Wolf Street


8. Google says U.S. is Facing a Power Capacity crisis in AI Race against China

Via CNBC: The U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the tech sector races against China to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence, an executive leading the energy strategy of Alphabet’s Google unit said this week.

The emergence of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence firm sent the shares of major power companies tumbling in late January on speculation that its AI model is cheaper and more efficient. But Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development, said more power is needed now to keep up with Beijing.

“We are in a capacity crisis in this country right now, and we are in an AI race against China right now,” Golin told a conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City on Tuesday.

Alphabet’s Google unit embarked four years ago on an ambitious goal to power its operations around the clock with carbon-free renewable energy, but the company faced a major obstacle that forced a turn toward nuclear power.

Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said.


9. Top Import Partners for Each U.S. State

Visual Capitalist


10. 8 Mistakes to Avoid Making During Work Meetings, According to an Etiquette Expert

There are lots of things to avoid doing during work meetings. Business Insider asked an etiquette expert about the mistakes to avoid making during work meetings.

Whether in-person or virtual, work meetings are almost always a guaranteed part of professional life. Unfortunately, employees can unintentionally undermine their professionalism during meetings in several ways.

To help you avoid these missteps, Business Insider asked etiquette expert Arden Clise to share some common mistakes people make during work meetings. Here’s what she said.

Showing up late

When it comes to meetings, a common faux pas is showing up late and disrespecting the time of others.

“If everyone’s arriving late, then you can’t start a meeting on time, and you don’t accomplish what you need to accomplish,” Clise said.

Clise told BI that she recommends facilitators always start the meetings on time to reward those who show up when they should.

Turning the camera off in virtual meetings

In a virtual meeting, keeping your camera off can be seen as rude.

“I think it’s really disrespectful to just remain with your video off when you’re addressed and when you are speaking,” Clise told BI.

She added there might be a few exceptions, like if your kid just came in the room or you have coworkers around you, but your camera should generally be on — especially when you’re talking.

Trying to multitask during the meeting

According to Clise, it’s not polite to juggle other tasks while in a meeting. This includes using your phone, jotting down notes unrelated to the meeting, or thinking about other to-do list items.

“If you’re not present in the meeting, if you’re doing other work, you’re not going to hear what’s going on. You’re not going to participate because you’re missing that opportunity to,” Clise told BI.

In general, she said to avoid anything that can pull your attention elsewhere.

Excessively typing in the chat

Another etiquette mistake to avoid in virtual meetings is overusing the chat box. Clise said that continual messages can be distracting for others, so it’s best to keep chat box usage to a minimum. She said that if you have a question for one person, sending them a direct message is much better than drawing everyone’s attention to it in the chat.

“Chatting is like a side conversation in an in-person meeting,” Clise told BI.

Dominating the conversation

It’s important to give others the chance to talk.

Another big mistake to avoid is dominating the meeting and not allowing others to share their thoughts. Clise said it can be extremely frustrating if one person constantly shares ideas or asks questions without letting others talk.

If you’re running a meeting, it’s also important to make sure everyone is given a chance to speak

Interrupting others while they’re speaking

Interrupting, especially in virtual meetings, is a common misstep.

“It’s hard sometimes in a meeting, particularly a virtual meeting, to know when someone is finished or going to be finished. But if you’re someone who regularly interrupts people … that can be really offensive,” Clise said.

Even if it’s accidental, it’s essential to avoid talking over other people.

Putting quiet team members on the spot

Clise said it’s never OK to point out that someone is quiet in a meeting. Doing so might make them feel uncomfortable, and it can come across as though you’re trying to make them look bad.

Instead, politely ask their thoughts on a certain point, reassuring them that they’ve had great ideas in the past, so they feel comfortable speaking up.

Not following through on assigned tasks after the meeting

Don’t drop the ball after the meeting is over.

After leaving a meeting, it’s crucial to follow through on the tasks you agreed to handle.

Clise said that sometimes, people forget to follow through on action items because they didn’t take notes, make a to-do list, or add items to their calendars. However, forgetting to follow through can come across as disrespectful to others.

“It doesn’t reflect well on you if you’re not holding up your end of the work tasks. If you’re not getting work done, you’re not helping your coworkers, and you’re not allowing the company to accomplish what it needs to accomplish,” she said.

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 February 12, 2025

1. Tesla -32% from Highs…Approaching Support Level…Gives Back Post-Election Gains

StockCharts


2. Gender Divide in Crypto

According to a Pew Research survey based on February 2024 data, men under age 50 are more likely than older men and women of all ages to have used cryptocurrency. The gender divide is notable even among young investors. Forty-two percent of men ages 18 to 29 have invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency, compared with 17% of women in the same age range, Pew said. Interestingly, just 17% of all U.S. adults say they have invested in, traded, or used a cryptocurrency, according to the 2024 survey. That was statistically unchanged since 2021, Pew said.

Barron’s


3. 8 of the 10 Most Downloaded Financial Apps are Crypto Apps

From MarketWatch: Granted, institutional investors are not holding such cryptocurrencies, and memecoins account for just under 2% of the entire crypto market, by BCA’s calculations. But the strategists say the surge in memecoins is a symptom of a larger trend, that consensus is now very bullish on crypto: The bitcoin ETFs were the most successful exchange-traded-fund launches in history, with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink saying big investors are discussing whether to allocate up to 5% of their portfolios to bitcoin. Fink said bitcoin’s price could climb as high as $700,000.

“We are concerned that this raging optimism is a sign that we are near a top,” says the BCA team, which points out the supply of bitcoin in profit is over 90% — historically a proportion at which tops have formed in bitcoin prices. Eight of the top 10 most downloaded financial apps are crypto trading apps, they add.

MarketWatch


4. Firms are Not Mentioning Inflation on Earnings Calls

Few firms are mentioning inflation on earnings calls.

Bloomberg


5. Truflation Dropping

Andreas Steno

Google


6. Bearish Sentiment at 52 Week High

The Irrelevant Investor


7. China Biotech Transactions Go from 5% to 30% of Global Market

Via the WSJ: China’s rise in biotech has been years in the making, but it is now impossible to ignore. In 2020, less than 5% of large pharmaceutical transactions worth $50 million or more upfront involved China. By 2024, that number had surged to nearly 30%, according to DealForma. A decade from now, many drugs hitting the U.S. market will have originated in Chinese labs.

WSJ


8. $10,000 EVs Made in China

Semafor


9. YouTube Viewership On TV Screens Exceeds Mobile For First Time In U.S.

Deadline


10. Doing This for 30 Minutes a Day Can Unlock Your Full Potential

Taking just 30 minutes a day to learn something new improved my life

Via Addicted to Success: Between the demands of work, life, and the never-ending cycle of bills, we often put our development, learning, and self-improvement at the bottom of our daily to-do lists.

When I was younger, I typically justified this in two primary ways:

  1. Lack of Control – I believed I didn’t have a choice. Things were beyond my control. Excuses like “I’m just so busy,” “My boss is unfair,” or “I’m just not as fast as my colleagues” were my go-to justifications.
  2. Fear – I was afraid of not being next in line for a promotion, of not getting my next raise, of not being enough. Although I never missed a promotion, I wasn’t exactly the healthiest individual. Years later, burnt out, overworked, and with no sense of who I was outside of work, I collapsed.

It took years (and thousands spent in therapy) to realize both excuses stemmed from the same place—a deep-rooted insecurity.

Self-Worth & Work

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my self-worth was directly tied to my job. My value depended on what my boss thought, how hard they saw me working, and how much time I spent in the office (this was clearly before COVID).

As I’m sure anyone in a similar situation can attest, I allowed the allure of winning to eclipse everything else in my life including myself.

For those who are good at it, business is fun. Winning contracts, pursuing leads, figuring out a new code base, it’s all exhilarating! But that excitement wasn’t enough to compensate for everything else I was losing.

In the grand scheme of a universe that’s at least 13.8 billion years old (and likely older), it’s silly to think anyone including your boss, can dictate your self-worth or justify your existence.

Think about it. For all the great philosophical minds that have come before us—Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, the ancient Greeks—no one can definitively explain why we are here, as a species or as individuals.

Before You Freak Out

Years ago, this uncertainty would have terrified me. The not knowing used to bring anxiety.

Now? I’ve realized it’s one of the best parts of life: No one can tell me or you why we are here. Which means we get to figure it out for ourselves—if we choose to.

Most of us got to where we are today by doing what we were supposed to. By following the rules.

But in doing so, we likely left pieces of ourselves behind. Pieces we miss even if we don’t realize it yet.

The good news? You can start rediscovering those pieces today by setting aside time to learn something new.

30 Minutes of Mastery

Taking just 30 minutes a day to learn something new improved my mental health, sharpened my skills, and, most importantly, helped me find myself again.

Here’s how you can do the same:

Step 1: Identify Your Peak Time

Find the time of day when you’re at your sharpest, most alert, and most capable.

  • For most, this is an hour or two after waking up.
  • Others hit their peak right after lunch.
  • Observe yourself for a few weeks. Track your energy levels throughout the day in a journal. Your peak time will naturally reveal itself.

Step 2: Block 30 Minutes for Learning

Once you’ve found your peak time:

  • Block 30 minutes of it on your calendar every day.
  • Only schedule a week at a time to allow flexibility for unexpected changes.
  • Set a recurring meeting with yourself—just like you would for an important client or project.

Step 3: Show Up & Protect Your Time

This is the hard part.

  • Show up every day (at least three times a week, minimum).
  • Don’t let distractions cancel your session.
  • Don’t use holidays or busy schedules as excuses.
  • Don’t waste this time responding to emails or texts.

Instead, use it to learn something meaningful, robotics, graphic design, mindfulness, coding, creativity, whatever calls to you. Trust your intuition.

Step 4: Observe & Adjust

As Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

By prioritizing yourself and daily learning, you’re making an investment that will pay dividends for you, your career, and society as a whole.After all, if we’ve all left pieces of ourselves behind along the way, maybe it’s no wonder life isn’t as fulfilling as it could be.  The choice is yours are you ready to reclaim those lost pieces?

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 February 10, 2025

1. Top 10% of U.S. Stocks are 75% of Entire Market

Market Ear


2. Mag 7—Earnings-First Quarter with No Positive Surprises Since 2022

Chart Rounding Top Close Below 50 Day.

StockCharts


3. This Chart Shows Mag 7 ETF vs. KWEB Chinese Tech Stocks…Closed Below 200 Day

StockCharts


4. Homebuilders XHB -8% Since Election

StockCharts


5. T-Mobile +694% over 10 Years

Via Barron’s: Why is a phone company trading like a member of the Magnificent Seven? T-Mobile US stock is up 54% in a year and 694% over the past decade. That beats Amazon over the first time frame, Meta Platforms over the second, and Alphabet and Apple over both.

StockCharts


6. China 5% of Global Manufacturing to 32% Today

Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank

Thirty years ago, the West and its allies controlled nearly three-quarters of global manufacturing. Today their share is less than half. China alone has gone from 5% of global manufacturing in 1995 to 32% today, more than double the share of the United States. When China’s dominance was limited to toys and textiles, and even laptops and smartphones this did not raise alarm, but the scale and speed with which China has broken into high-value added manufacturing is becoming a concern in Western capitals.

China’s 32% share of global manufacturing masks more relevant and staggering facts. Just a few here: more than half the world’s industrial robots are installed in China; China dominates in shipbuilding, with 80% of export market share, and over 200 times the production capacity of the US; the number of 5G base stations installed in China is estimated at around 4 million compared to about 100,000 in the US, despite both countries having almost equivalent land mass.

One key industry where China has lagged is in high-end semiconductors where the US and its allies (Taiwan and Korea) still dominate by a significant margin, and where the desire to limit China’s gains led to US export controls. But again, China’s development of Deep Seek showed how these disadvantages could be circumnavigated.


7. ETF Money Flows: Bitcoin 5x Next Ticker

Ned Davis Research


8. LinkedIn’s $16B Business

Chartr


9. January Effect Visual

Chart of the day.

FundStrat


10. 200 Emails…

Muscling your way through
Via Seth Godin’s blog: When there’s an overwhelming amount of incoming, it’s possible to bear down and simply get through it.
200 emails because of a product launch.
A project goes viral and there are a lot of fires to put out.
A deadline is imminent and it’s going to be a long night…
But when the incoming becomes chronic, it’s simply not possible. The problem isn’t a lack of effort. The problem is the system.
Forty years ago, anyone working in an office had to work their way through the pink while-you-were-out slips and the inbox. That’s it.
Now, there’s exponentially more, particularly if you are engaging with anyone outside of your organization.
The only solution is to change the system.
Simply shut down some channels of communication. Hand off entire swaths of engagement to someone else. Not next week, but now. Not for awhile, but forever.
Attention doesn’t scale, no matter how hard we try.

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 February 06, 2025

1. Mag 7 Capital Spending Equal to U.S. Government R&D

We are in the AI buildout, with total capital investment by the “magnificent seven” mostly mega cap tech stocks on par with government R&D. See the chart. The release of a seemingly more efficient AI model by Chinese startup DeepSeek has renewed questions about AI capex. While these questions are valid, more spending is likely needed to unlock AI innovation – recent developments don’t change our view. Broad AI adoption is still to come, and we have barely scratched the surface of all the potential AI use cases. Yet AI advances mean these models could be evolving faster than expected. That could push AI into the adoption phase sooner and is why the AI narrative and the market’s reaction could change quickly.

BlackRock


2. Tariffs vs. Trump I

Bloomberg via Barchart


3. Temu and Shein Big Chinese Retailers at Risk of New Tariffs…..Shein Revenue Growth

Statista


4. TEMU Revenue Growth

Backllnko


5. 75% of American Adults Use Amazon Prime

Chartr


6. FMC -33% Yesterday…Stock Traded Above $100 2020-2023….$35 Last

StockCharts


7. Europe Beating American Market to Start Year…But Just Got Back to Pre-Election Levels

StockCharts


8. Agencies Share of Civil Service Jobs

Semafor


9. Illegal Border Crossings Hit 2020 Levels

Eric Finnigan


10. Diet Strategies that Enhance Sleep

Via Consumer Reports: When you build your diet around foods that fit those criteria, you end up with something that looks like the Mediterranean diet—a way of eating that emphasizes plant-based foods, including lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and healthy sources of fat (such as olive oil, nuts, and avocados), while limiting red meat, sweets, and refined carbohydrates (such as foods made with white flour). Indeed, studies examining the connection between this pattern of eating and better sleep have shown promising results.

For example, a 2020 study published in the journal Nutrients followed more than 400 women in the U.S. for a year to see whether compliance with the Mediterranean diet affected their sleep quality. Those with the greatest adherence to this way of eating had 30 percent lower sleep disturbance scores (meaning they got more solid rest) than those with the lowest adherence.

Certain categories of foods—namely fruits, vegetables, and legumes—stood out for their positive effects on various measures of sleep quality. “Legume consumption was associated with better sleep overall,” says Brooke Aggarwal, EdD, an assistant professor of medical sciences in the division of cardiology at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and one of the study authors. “And the effects were dose-dependent—the more servings of legumes they ate, the more significant improvement they had in sleep efficiency.” (Sleep efficiency is the ratio of how many hours you sleep to how many hours you spend in bed.)

A 2024 review and analysis of 37 studies published in Sleep Medicine Reviews bolstered the link between a healthy diet and better sleep. Following a Mediterranean or other high-quality quality diet reduced the risk of insomnia symptoms by 9 to 34 percent.

But it’s not that the Mediterranean diet necessarily has magic abilities to enhance sleep. “It’s the healthy components of that way of eating—more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats,” St. Onge says. “You can focus on eating those foods in any predominantly plant-based diet.”

How Better Eating Leads to Better Sleep

There are several possible explanations for how a healthy plant-based diet enhances sleep.

“All of the foods plentiful in the Mediterranean diet are rich sources of fiber, which has beneficial effects on the gut microbiome,” Aggarwal says. A healthier gut and better sleep are connected by various mechanisms.

“The gut and brain communicate via the gut-brain axis,” she says. “Specific to sleep, the gut microbiome is thought to send signals that help to regulate circadian rhythms.”

Circadian rhythms, part of the body’s internal clock, are controlled by daylight and darkness and affect many body processes, including hormonal activity and the sleep-wake cycle. Additionally, the gut is involved in the synthesis of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that promotes better mood and is an important component for regulating sleep.

Higher fruit and vegetable consumption as part of a plant-based diet also means a greater intake of beneficial antioxidant compounds called polyphenols. Emerging research points to an association between these compounds and improvements in sleep. “Polyphenols have effects on the autonomic nervous system and can increase heart rate variability [the fluctuation in time between heartbeats],” St. Onge says. Higher heart rate variability is a sign you’re in a relaxed state and is associated with better sleep quality, she says. Some polyphenols also act on receptors in the brain that promote sleep.

Plant foods can even enhance the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Legumes, soy, leafy greens, and seeds are all rich sources of tryptophan, an amino acid (a building block of protein) that the body uses to make melatonin. Turkey and dairy are often cited as the best sources of tryptophan. But the tryptophan in those high-protein foods isn’t actually synthesized as efficiently in the brain as the tryptophan from plant foods. That may be in part because you also need B vitamins and carbohydrates to process tryptophan, both of which you get when you eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.

Eating Habits That Can Wreck Your Sleep

In addition to leaving you feeling tired, not getting enough sleep affects various processes in your brain and body that can lead to unhealthy food choices. Sleeping too few hours may increase hormones that stimulate appetite as well as suppress those that signal satiety. At the same time, short sleep durations appear to activate the reward centers in the brain, increasing cravings for high-sugar, high-fat snack foods.

“If you have good sleep, you tend to make better choices in all aspects of your life—eating healthier foods, taking the stairs instead of the elevator,” St. Onge says. “And when you don’t have good sleep, you tend to go for the easier, less healthy choices—more processed foods, more snacks, more sugar, less exercise. And this vicious cycle perpetuates itself.” A habitually unhealthy eating pattern (that may be exacerbated by not sleeping well) can, in turn, lead to more sleepless nights.

Along with obvious sleep-wreckers like alcohol and caffeine, foods that are high in fat, sugar, and saturated fat have been shown to affect sleep quality negatively. For example, a small study led by St. Onge, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2016, found that when participants ate more sugar, refined carbs, and saturated fat, it took them longer to fall asleep and they spent less time in the deep, restorative short-wave sleep phase.

In another study, published in 2020 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers looked at the diets and sleep quality of almost 500 women. They found that those who reported poor sleep quality also had worse-quality diets. For example, women who took more than an hour to fall asleep consumed over 400 calories more per day than those who routinely fell asleep in 15 minutes or less. The poor sleepers not only ate more calories per day but also consumed more sugar, more saturated fat, and less fiber.

Diets rich in ultraprocessed foods—packaged foods that are made with ingredients not typically found in home kitchens—have also been linked to insomnia. A 2024 study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that people with chronic insomnia had a higher percentage of UPFs in their diets than those without insomnia. Every 10 percent increase in UPFs in the diet was linked to a 9 percent increase in insomnia risk in men and a 6 percent increased risk in women.

Can Specific Foods Help You Sleep?

Over the years there have been various studies about how eating individual foods could ease you into slumber. Although these studies were typically small in scale (and often funded by the food industry), they usually resulted in lots of splashy headlines touting the miraculous effect of certain foods—such as tart cherries or kiwifruit. But experts caution against looking to a single food as nature’s sleeping pill.

“I like to advocate for better overall dietary patterns for better health and better sleep,” St. Onge says. “Including those foods can’t hurt, but you can’t negate the effect of a day’s worth of a bad diet with a single kiwi before bed.”

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 February 05, 2025

1. Big Tech Share of Revenue from Outside the U.S.

FT


2. Another Look at Current Valuations: High But Not Near Internet Bubble Levels

The Daily Chartbook


3. Nvidia Down -13% in 2025


4. U.S. Imports from China by Category

Apollo Academy


5. California Tesla Car Sales Dropping -17% from Two Years Ago

But Tesla sales in California dropped in Q4 to 43,658 vehicles, the lowest since Q3 2022, down by nearly 8% from a year ago, and down by 17% from two years ago, according to vehicle registrations released by the California new vehicle dealer association CNCDA.

Wolf Street


6. Largest Sovereign Wealth Funds

Semafor


7. Top Countries for VC Funding vs. Population

PitchBook


8. We Showed the Gold Breakout this Week….Next to Watch in Junior Gold Miners…Getting Close

StockCharts


9. Where Declining Rents are Improving Affordability

Austin, Texas is No.1 among the “most affordable metros,” which Redfin defines as placeswhere renters typically earn more money than they need in order to afford a typical rental unit.

The typical renter in the area makes $69,781 annually, which is 25.14% higher than the $55,760 the site estimates is required to afford a typical apartment there.

Austin is followed by Houston; Dallas; Salt Lake City; Raleigh, North Carolina; Denver; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and Nashville. 

CNBC


10. Why the aging process spikes at 44 and 60 (and how to stop it)

Researchers have discovered two spikes in our ageing. Here’s how to turn back the clock.

Via The Telegraph: In our 40s, our ability to process alcohol diminishes and our skin and muscle texture weakens

It’s no revelation that our health malfunctions as the years advance. But a study from Stanford University has challenged the traditional idea that we steadily age over time. The research team extensively monitored molecular changes over a period of up to seven years in people (male and female) aged 25 to 75, and discovered two spikes in our ageing – one at around 44 and the other at 60.

Prof Michael Snyder, an expert in genetics and senior author of the study, says: “You really do want to take care of yourself as you approach these periods. Eating better will help with the drop in lipid metabolism which shows up in the 40s. And strength training is important, especially as you hit your 60s, when there is a loss of muscle mass. Always try to track yourself with specific check-ups, so you can make sure things are going fine during these periods.”

No one wants to decline with age, so intervention is key. And when it comes to health, time seems to be of the essence.

What to watch out for in your 40s

While menopause often gets the blame for the sudden increase in health concerns amongst midlife women, the Stanford report revealed a similar jump in age-related issues among 40-something men. It also confirmed what we already know: our ability to process alcohol diminishes, skin and muscle texture weakens, and the way we deal with caffeine, fats and sugars is compromised. Other changes include:

Our ability to process fats and sugars drops off a cliff

Steak lovers, look away. The Stanford research tells us that shifts in our lipid metabolism means our body finds it harder to process these as we age, which can result in high cholesterol levels.

When the body doesn’t manage cholesterol, it sits along the artery walls and clogs them. This puts more strain on the heart to pump blood and so blood pressure rises.
Foods containing saturated fats (for example, processed meat, dairy products, baked and fried goods) are on the culprit list.

After 40, it’s worth keeping an eye on your metabolic health, by signing up for a free NHS Health Check every five years, which includes a blood pressure and cholesterol check.

Bones get weaker

The Stanford study shows that musculoskeletal issues shoot up after 40. The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) confirms that we reach our peak bone health at the age of 30. As we get older, the tissue inside our bones naturally declines, but this especially true for women around the menopause when levels of oestrogen decrease. And while osteoporosis disproportionately affects females, anyone can suffer. The ROS says: “Data shows one in two women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis; it is an escalating public health crisis.”

Weight-bearing exercises with impact, such as walking or jogging, and muscle-strengthening exercise, such as Pilates or weight training, will keep bones strong, and the earlier in life you start the better – but it’s never too late. Build up to 20-30 minutes muscle-strengthening exercise a day, specifically working on your legs, arms and spine. 

Foods high in vitamin D (for example, oily fish, red meat and egg yolks) help your body to absorb and use calcium, which is necessary for strong bones. Between the end of September and the beginning of April, when sunlight is scarce in the UK, you should consider taking a daily supplement of 10 micrograms (sometimes called 400 international units) to boost your levels.

The second wave of ageing in your 60s

As we hit our 60s, our immune function takes a dive, our ability to process carbs becomes ever more sluggish while our heart and kidneys are not as robust as they once were. Fortunately, there’s still time to reboot our health.

Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent

There are significant changes in our metabolism as the years tot up. And our decreased ability to process carbs is linked to a greater risk of Type 2 diabetes. According to Diabetes UK, there are 4.4 million people currently living with a diabetes diagnosis and a further 1.2 million with Type 2 diabetes yet to be diagnosed.

Douglas Twenefour, the head of care at Diabetes UK, states, “Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent as we get older as a result of a combination of increasing insulin resistance and a reducing ability to make the right amount of insulin. Insulin resistance is where the insulin that is produced does not work properly, and in older people, this could be due to being less physically active and more sedentary. It’s not unusual to lose muscle with age, but this can make it harder for the cells to absorb glucose from the blood, leading to higher blood glucose levels over time which increases the risk for Type 2 diabetes. A positive solution would be to do strength-building exercises at least two days a week.”

Kidney disease risk rises after 64

An unhealthy lifestyle can be tough on the kidneys, mainly because their primary job is to clean out the bad stuff – they filter about 180 litres of blood every day. Fiona Loud, the policy director of Kidney Care UK, says: “Natural ageing means we lose about 1 per cent of our kidney function year on year. But if things go really wrong, the average age for people to get kidney failure is 64-85. Many people are unaware that diabetes is the most common cause of kidney damage, plus high blood pressure is a significant risk factor, so anyone with these conditions can be vulnerable.”

Always check your urine. Healthy urine is a lighter yellowish shade; a darker colour could indicate dehydration. Continual urinary infections can also take their toll on the kidneys, and are common amongst older people. It’s extremely important to stay well hydrated, as dehydration can lead to crystals which affect kidney function.

Outside of conditions such as diabetes that put people at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), the main offenders for kidney damage are too much salt in the diet, sugary drinks and smoking, combined with a sedentary lifestyle; even some medications like ibuprofen should be monitored as overuse can be damaging. Warning signs include: anaemia, tiredness, nausea, foamy urine, increased blood pressure, puffy eyes and swollen legs. There is no cure for kidney failure, so prevention is definitely better.

Heart disease and stroke

Age is the main risk factor for heart disease. The ability for the heart to regenerate itself tails off, so any disease or trauma is significant. Our arteries can also harden and become narrow with a build-up of plaque which can lead to stroke.

Joanne Whitmore, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, advises us to get moving, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking and cut down on booze. She says: “The strain on the heart can also be reduced by lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and maintaining a healthy weight. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week. Eat smaller amounts of meat – if you eat more than 90g of red and processed meat per day, it is recommended that you reduce this to 70g or less.

“If you want to quit smoking, get in touch with your local stop smoking services. They’ll provide you with support and boost your chances of success. Stick within the recommended guidelines of no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. Drinking more on a regular basis can cause abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, palpitations, damage to your heart muscle and stroke.”

Dr Maeva May, an associate director of system engagement at the Stroke Association,adds: “A stroke happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, killing brain cells. Nine out of 10 strokes are preventable – there is enormous potential for reducing strokes if the risk factors are better detected, treated, and managed.”

Cancer risk rises after 60

The study picked up a drop in the function of our immune system, which can mean a rise in the risk of cancer. The advanced years will see us less able to fight infections and illnesses as the body produces fewer immune cells, while the ones we do have are less robust. Maxine Lenza, a health information manager at Cancer Research UK, explains: “The possibility of cancer increases as we age because cancer starts when cells in our bodies get damaged. The older people get, the more time there is for cell damage to build up, which can lead to cancer.”

Maintaining a healthy immune system is your golden ticket. Sleeping and eating well, reducing stress, keeping up with your vaccines, exercising and stopping smoking all are positive steps towards being fighting fit.