Most of us want to enjoy later life feeling strong, connected, and mentally sharp. But how often do we stop to think about whether the things we’re doing right now are helping us get there?

A new quiz – which we have developed as part of the Take Five to Age Well project, a free, expert-led, month-long challenge from The Open University and Age UK – makes it easier, and more empowering, to ask that question, reflect and take action.

Healthy ageing doesn’t depend on just one thing. Research shows that our long-term wellbeing is shaped by a mix of physical, mental and social factors. That’s why experts, including us, have identified five key areas – known as the Five Pillars for Ageing Well – that form a strong foundation for staying well and thriving in later life:

1. Are you eating well?

Are you getting enough fruit and vegetables, limiting ultra-processed foods and meeting your body’s changing nutritional needs?

Diets like the Mediterranean plan are linked with a lower risk of dementia and other chronic conditions.

Malnutrition is a serious concern in older age, especially when it comes to maintaining strong muscles and bones.

2. Are you staying hydrated?

Are you drinking enough water to support both your brain and body? Dehydration can creep up easily and affect cognitive function, mood and energy.

Cutting down on sugary drinks can help you to maintain a healthy weight and staying within recommended alcohol limits can also help lower your risk of conditions like dementia. Hydration really matters.

For people with life-limiting illnesses or conditions such as advanced dementia, where appetite and oral intake may be severely reduced, sugary drinks may be one of the few sources of calories they can tolerate. In these cases, hydration and comfort take priority over strict nutritional guidelines, and personalised care plans should always guide decisions.

3. Are you being physically active?

Are you moving regularly? Enough to raise your heart rate? Are you breaking up long periods of sitting with movement?

A sedentary lifestyle is linked to a wide range of health risks. Simple habits like walking more can boost physical fitness, sharpen the mind and help prevent osteoporosis, especially when paired with good nutrition.

4. Are you connecting socially?

Are you keeping in touch with others, spending time in your community and enjoying meaningful connections? Loneliness increases the risk of depression and cognitive decline.

Building strong social ties earlier in life can help protect well-being over the long term.

5. Are you challenging your brain?

Are you keeping your mind active by learning, reading, playing an instrument, or trying something new? Research shows that learning about your interests, activities like crossword puzzles or new physical activities, can keep the brain healthy and potentially delay dementia. There’s no magic fix, but even small actions can have lasting benefits.

Why it matters

We developed the Take Five to Age Well quiz to help people reflect on how they’re doing across these five areas – and where there might be room to grow. The follow-up resources are based on real-life experiences of ageing from diverse communities and offer small, achievable steps you can start today.

Unlike many online quizzes, this one doesn’t just score you – it supports you. After signing up for the month-long challenge and taking the quiz, the Take Five to Age Well participants receive tips, encouragement and expert-led advice supporting participants’ current habits and needs.

We’ve also partnered with BridgitCare – an organisation that works with Councils, the NHS and Carer Charities across the UK, to help identify carers and scale the support provided with the use of technology – to create Age Well, a free, web-based tool offering personalised daily actions. Whether you want to add more greens to your plate, look for expert tips, and easy ways to stay in control of your health, hobbies, and wellbeing or swap ten minutes of scrolling for a short walk, every step counts.

Age Well can also connect you to local groups and services to help turn good intentions into lasting routines.

Healthy ageing isn’t just about avoiding illness – it’s about learning how to age well, maintaining independence, confidence and quality of life. And with an ageing population, learning that supports all taking proactive steps to protect our mental and physical health is more important than ever.

The best part? Many of the most effective actions are small and realistic. You don’t have to run marathons or give up everything you enjoy. Take Five to Age Well meets you where you are – and helps you build a future where you feel stronger, more connected and better supported.

No matter your age, it’s never too early – or too late – to start your journey to ageing well.

If your feeds have felt like a time capsule recently, you’re not imagining it: Nineties minimalism is firmly back in fashion.

The renewed fascination with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s iconic wardrobe has seen queues forming outside New York’s C.O. Bigelow for her signature tortoiseshell headband.

“After a long stretch of trend-heavy dressing, people are craving something more refined,” says luxury stylist Oriona Robb.

“They want pieces that feel expensive rather than attention-seeking.”

So why is Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy at the centre of this shift? Her pared-back wardrobe has become a reference point thanks to FX’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.

“She had a very clear point of view,” Robb explains. “There was never too much going on, no over-styling, no unnecessary extras, just really well-chosen pieces worn with confidence.”

So which Nineties staples are worth revisiting now? Stylists give their five top picks:

1. The slip dress

Few pieces capture Nineties minimalism quite like the slip dress. Long associated with Bessette-Kennedy – most famously on her wedding day – it has re-emerged as a key silhouette this season. Today’s version is more about how it’s styled in order to bring it into 2026.

“Slip dresses work best when they’re layered,” says stylist Elsa Boutaric, “a blazer or a soft knit instantly makes them feel more wearable.”

The focus should remain on simplicity with a clean silhouette, minimal detailing and fluid fabrics like silk or satin.

While monochrome tones still feel the most timeless, newer iterations have been seen in sky blue, baby pink and lime green.

Worn under an oversized blazer or paired with a lightweight knit and ballet flats, Boutaric says the slip dress becomes the staple white t-shirt of dresses.

2. The double-breasted blazer

While the tailored boxy blazer has been a wardrobe staple for years now, the Nineties is bringing back a double-breasted version of it.

Seen across recent runway collections from Prada to Jil Sander, the silhouette has moved towards something more refined, with bigger shoulders and more buttons.

Robb says that when working with simple pieces, proportion becomes everything. “A blazer can make or break the outfit,” she says, “it should look effortless, but never accidental.”

To make it look more chic, Robb says to pair the double-breasted blazer with straight-leg jeans or tailored trousers in the same material, with block-heeled sandals and minimal jewellery.

3. The white shirt

The white button-down shirt has always been a wardrobe staple, but its latest revival comes in a cooler, more louche take.

“It works best when you take it away from anything too corporate,” says Robb, for example, try not to pair it with a blazer.

“Choose something slightly oversized, worn open at the neck, maybe paired with a sleek skirt or relaxed trousers,” she says, a la Bessette-Kennedy.

Robb says to push the sleeves up and loosely tuck the hem so the overall look feels effortlessly undone.

Boutaric describes it as part of a wider move towards “quality basics” – a movement that invests in pieces that can be styled in multiple ways.

Whether worn with slim trousers or blue denim, the white shirt remains one of the most versatile pieces from the Nineties.

4. The clean-cut low-rise

Low-rise trousers have slowly been threatening their comeback for several seasons now, with only a few hopping on the trend with ultra-baggy low-rise jeans.

But this season, the silhouette is taking a more mature turn in tailored cuts, subtle flares and cleaner lines, as demonstrated on Demna’s Gucci runway at Milan Fashion Week in March.

Robb warns against going too literal when wearing this trend. “The mistake is [when people] try to recreate the Nineties exactly,” she says. “The moment it feels like a full throwback, it loses its edge.”

Instead, low-rise styles work best when balanced with more current pieces like a fine slim-knit over layered tanks or an asymmetric blazer over a simple sleeveless roll-neck. As Robb notes, low-rise doesn’t have to mean baring your midriff.

5. The everyday clutch

While Bessette-Kennedy’s headband and skinny sunglasses have been making waves, the biggest accessories trend to come back is the casual clutch bag.

On runways from Victoria Beckham to Celine, oversized leather and suede clutches were carried bundled under the arm, creating a sense of business-smart to otherwise simple and pared-back outfits.

The appeal lies in their simplicity. Without straps or excess hardware, they align perfectly with the Nineties’ minimalist focus on clean, uninterrupted lines.

Boutaric notes that accessories play a key role in elevating these pared-back looks. “Refined and simple [bags] make all the difference.”

Whether paired with tailoring or casual denim, the clutch adds structure and intention to an outfit without overpowering it.

My mother gave me the best gift imaginable – three sensational sisters. Sisters possess a psychological shorthand; instinctively understanding each other. When one of us is going through a rough time, the other three rally with offers of chicken soup and/or internal organs. If under attack, the wagons circle. Although… wagons? Who am I kidding? Having three formidable sisters on your side is like having a bombproof, flame-retardant armoured vehicle on hand for quick getaways.

Of course, it’s not the same for all sisters. In fact, some sisters have enough chips on their shoulders to open a casino. Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine spent their lives circling each other like Cold War spies. When Fontaine was awarded the Oscar that de Havilland expected to win, it was no-talkies for a decade.

I was lucky enough to be friends with one of the world’s most famous sisters, Jessica Mitford. When her sibling, novelist Nancy, commented that “Sisters are a defence against life’s cruel circumstances,” Jessica retorted, “Sisters are life’s cruel circumstances.” But then again, Jessica, a communist, had to deal with Diana, a fascist, and Unity, who adored Hitler, and Debs, who became a duchess. I suspect it would have been safer to fly an American jet into Iranian airspace than attend a Mitford family gathering.

Thankfully, my sisters and I are not as disparate as the Mitfords. In fact, it’s our contrasting characters that make us stronger. Together, our various fortes combine to make up one pretty formidable person and I know how lucky I am.

But for those who are not lucky enough to have biological sisters, there is, of course, the “sisterhood”, and, in many ways, friends are just as important. My best girlfriends are like Orion’s Belt; always there, lined up alongside each other. Whenever I feel lost and can’t find my place in life, my girlfriends are my bookmark. Loving, loyal girlfriends – and you know who you are – lift you two octaves up on the happiness scale without even realising they’re doing so. On a girls’ night out, I sometimes feel like I’ll have to be hospitalised from hilarity. Laughter effervesces up in us like champagne as we quaff and quip and dance to female torch songs until the wee hours. Nor do we care that our over-exuberant mum manoeuvres, circa 1982, often leave us with a bad case of ARDI (Abba Related Dance Injuries).

Female friendships can be as fulfilling, intense and nourishing as any romance. Even more so. Which is why it’s so painful when they fall apart. A breakup with a best girlfriend shatters your equilibrium. Once that familiar foundation is knocked out from under you, it’s impossible to keep your balance. In fact, I’ve suffered worse heartbreak over the loss of a good girlfriend than a lover.

My first intensely emotional relationship was with a girlfriend. We were inseparable from 13 to 20. I would have taken a bullet for her. And not just a light graze either, but a full-on Peaky Blinders-type machine-gun body strafe. And so when she suddenly, inexplicably dropped me, I cried for months. I think I actually suffered a bit of a mini breakdown. I was savaged by nightmares for years.

Aged 22, I fell out with another close girlfriend after she slept with my boyfriend. The woman I so admired turned out to be a vampire on a day pass. I’d been happily floating about on the love boat, which she’d totally Titanic-ed. When confronted, she apologised. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”

“Hate you? Oh no. Not really… sometimes whole seconds elapse where I forget that you destroyed my life.” Her treachery hurt every time I thought about it, like a nerve exposed to air.

In my thirties, a close girlfriend went behind my back to secure a job I’d told her about. The scar tissue of those earlier breakups immediately tore open. The pain rushed back in one big, anguishing blast. There was no way we could stay friends. Her betrayal was like a shadow on the X-ray of my spirit – nagging at my confidence.

All of these experiences have probably gone on to inform my latest novel, in which two sisters, Izzy and Verity, have gone five years of radio silence after one stole the other’s husband. But when their mum goes missing, they have no choice but to join forces to find her. There’s anger, recriminations and much funny, bitchy banter, but eventually Izzy admits, “My husband ran away with my sister – and I miss her.” Verity also confesses, “She’s not just my sister, she’s my best friend. For example, she’ll swear that I’m a natural redhead and I tell everyone that she’s too skinny.”

I felt sure I could never forgive the female friends who betrayed me, not even if we were marooned on an island with no other castaways. But now in my sixties, I find that my anger has receded, like a tide on a beach. All that’s left is the emotional driftwood. I suddenly can’t understand the weight and importance I’ve given to the cargo I’ve carried for so long.

Maybe that is why my novel is about reconciliation. Clearly, there’s so little harmony in the world right now; it’s imperative we try to find unity in our own lives. Especially with our female friends. Why? Well, the world is not getting better for women. A woman born in America now has fewer rights than her grandmother. Abortion bans in America; the erasing of women in Afghanistan. And what about Iran? In our own society, women have to deal with the gender pay gap, upskirting, Andrew Tate, incels, the manosphere, revenge porn, trolling, date-rape, grooming and stealthing. The conviction rate for rape is limbo-low, and domestic violence figures sky-high; one in four women will be sexually assaulted or raped in her lifetime.

But the sisterhood is powerful. The #MeToo movement was a global solidarity movement among women that went on to bring down Harvey Weinstein. Although, of course, only one person is in jail over the Epstein scandal – a woman. Yes, Ghislaine Maxwell was jailed for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors on Epstein’s private island, but what about the paedophiles who flew there on the Lolita Express? Why aren’t they named and shamed?

We clearly need the sisterhood now more than ever. But there are rules. Women no longer want a man’s seat on the bus; they want his seat on the board. Tell her if she’s being cheated on. Always take her side in a breakup. Be her wingwoman – stick to her like a nylon dress in a heat wave. And most important of all – be loyal. Husbands come and go, but your girlfriends last forever, so we should never let a penis come between us.

There is nothing more life-affirming than a strong female friendship. So raise your fist in feminist solidarity and shout it loud enough to raise the roof, shattering the glass ceiling simultaneously. The sisterhood rules!

Kathy Lette’s latest novel, ‘The Sisterhood Rules’, published by Head of Zeus, is out now