Te Papa Hauora together with the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation bring you ‘Living well & ageing well’, a series of free community research talks.

Our latest event of this series is focused on eating well prior to surgery, ageing & the environment, and physical activity and engagement as we age.

Come and join us to learn more about what you can do to maintain health and well-being from some of Canterbury’s leading researchers.

Meet our speakers:

Catherine Wall — **Nutrition for Surgery**

Why eating well, particularly before and after bowel surgery, is so important.

Malnutrition before bowel surgery is common and increases the chances the post operation complications. Catherine will speak about malnutrition and how eating well and optimising nutrition before surgery helps to minimise complications and speed up recovery.

Dr Catherine Wall has a broad range of clinical dietitian experience and researches how we can use diet and nutrition to manage gastrointestinal diseases and disorders. She is an Expert Inflammatory Bowel Disease Dietitian at Christchurch Hospital, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Otago Christchurch and Consultant Dietitian at an inflammatory bowel disease private practice Gut Nutrition.

Angela Curl — **Age-friendly neighbourhoods**

Creating age-friendly environments is one of four key action areas for the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). Where we live matters for our health, and as we age and spend more time in the local neighbourhood, the relative importance of healthy environments increases. Angela will talk about the role of the built environment in outdoor activity, falls risk and access to healthcare, important for healthy ageing.

Angela is a transport and health geographer undertaking research into the relationship between urban environments, transport and health. She is particularly interested in in how public policy can address health inequities and transport disadvantage.

Being active in middle age can be complicated. Traditional sports can require too much time, fitness memberships are often expensive, and ‘get fit’ messaging centres on a robotic, unwavering dedication. Being active can be, and should be, fun. But what is holding us back?

Nick Maitland is a senior lecturer in the University of Canterbury’s Faculty of Health and specialises in sociology of sport and sport marketing. He is interested in the motivation and practice of physical activity in middle-aged participants, especially in activities that are more normally associated with younger people.