It’s no secret that regular exercise makes us fitter and happier, whether we’re 20 or 80 years old. In some cases, exercise doesn’t just add quality of life but can actually make us live a bit longer.

I wouldn’t think I’d be here at all if it hadn’t been for the classes. I was so fragile I was on a downhill slide but I’ve a few years left in me yet, thanks to the classes, says Pat, who is part of an exercise programme called Siel Bleu in Bray. Pat has a condition called COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe.

According to COPD Support Ireland there are an estimated 380,000 Irish adults living with COPD and only 110,000 of those have been diagnosed. With only limited access to hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation programmes, there is a serious deficit for all areas of COPD management, especially exercise programmes.

This is where Siel Bleu comes in, the exercise programme that’s tailored to the needs of older people. In partnership with the charity COPD Support Ireland and the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, Siel Bleu Ireland piloted the COPD & Me project especially targeted at people with this disease. Pat and many others were thrilled about the change it made for their life after participating in the exercises for one year.

The results of the project showed significant improvements in participants’ health, increasing muscle strength, agility and flexibility and nearly every participant talked about an increase of functional capacity.

The physical benefit is absolutely amazing, but the mental benefit of knowing you’re getting better, to know you’re able to do things, before you come and you’re not able to do those things, it’s sort of sad, I wasn’t happy but I am now, adds Pat.

To help more people benefit from Siel Bleu classes, not only in the COPD & Me programme, everyone can help to bring more classes to communities across Ireland and abroad.

Siel Bleu can be set up in a nursing home or just as a community meetup that can be organised by anyone who wants to provide more opportunities for healthy ageing in their local community. Siel Bleu provides the qualified trainers and more support to get it up and running.

To register your interest in starting a class, just fill in this short form.

If you’d like to join a class, find one near you here: www.changex.org/siel-bleu/locations