MAY 2026 NEWSLETTER
Wellness, joy, and vitality for the best years of your life
From the editor
May is here — and so are you
There’s something about May that feels like a proper arrival. Not the tentative warmth of March or the false starts of April, but the real thing. Longer evenings, hedgerows in bloom, and that particular quality of light in the late afternoon that makes everything look a little more beautiful than it did in February.
This month, we’re thinking about what it means to be fully present in the season, actually to notice it, rather than simply live through it. We’re also looking at what we eat, how we move, and what we might gently let go of as the year finds its stride.
As always, there’s no pressure here. Just a few ideas worth considering, at whatever pace suits you.
Wellness this month
The case for slowing down in May
We talk a great deal about doing more, more movement, more connection, more intention. But May is also a good time to practise the quieter art of doing less, more fully. Sitting in the garden without a phone. Walking somewhere familiar and noticing it as though for the first time. Letting an afternoon unfold without an agenda.
Research consistently shows that time spent in nature, even modest amounts, even in a back garden or a local park, reduces cortisol levels, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood in ways that are difficult to replicate indoors. After sixty, when the nervous system benefits enormously from this kind of gentle regulation, it’s one of the most genuinely restorative things available to you. And it asks almost nothing.
Barefoot on grass
Five minutes of standing or walking on grass has been linked to reduced inflammation and a measurable shift in mood. Simple and entirely free.
Watch the light change
Morning and evening light in May is extraordinary. Make a small ritual of being outside for ten minutes at either end of the day.
Listen for birdsong
Studies show that birdsong actively reduces mental fatigue. May is peak season — open a window and let it in.
Seasonal eating
What’s at its best in May
May is one of the most rewarding months for seasonal eating. The markets and greengrocers are beginning to fill with produce that has been genuinely grown locally, not shipped from elsewhere to fill a gap. Here’s what to look for:
Asparagus: The British season is glorious but brief. Roast it, steam it, or simply eat it warm with butter and a squeeze of lemon. Rich in folate and fibre, and one of the great pleasures of the calendar.
Jersey Royal potatoes: New potatoes at their absolute best. Boiled with a sprig of mint, served with a little butter. Don’t overthink it. A good source of potassium and vitamin C.
Spinach and spring greens: Tender, iron-rich, and versatile. Wilted into pasta, stirred through eggs, or eaten raw in a salad with something sharp alongside. Essential for bone health and energy after sixty.
Elderflower: Not a food exactly, but worth foraging if you can find it. A simple elderflower cordial made with sugar and lemon is one of the most beautiful things May produces. Packed with antioxidants and entirely delicious.
Strawberries: The very first British strawberries begin to appear in late May. Worth waiting for, the flavour difference between a local strawberry and an imported one in February is the difference between something that tastes alive and something that doesn’t.
Mindful living
One thing worth letting go of this month
May has a particular quality of openness to it, something about the light, perhaps, or the way the world outside seems to be actively growing. It’s a good time to consider what might be quietly taking up space inside, as well as out.
This month’s invitation is a simple one: identify one expectation you’re still holding, about yourself, your life, or how things should have gone, that no longer serves you. You don’t need to make a ceremony of releasing it. You just need to notice it, name it honestly, and gently stop giving it energy.
Not every story we carry is one we consciously chose. Some of them were handed to us a long time ago and have simply been running in the background ever since. May, with its sense of newness and forward motion, is a rather good time to ask which ones are worth keeping.
“Every day is a new beginning. Take a deep breath, smile, and start again.”
— Susan Wiggs
Movement
Walk somewhere you’ve never been
Not far, necessarily. Not challenging, if that’s not what you need right now. Just somewhere new, a street you’ve driven past but never walked along, a public garden you’ve always meant to visit, or a route that takes you somewhere slightly unfamiliar.
Novelty in movement does something that the familiar route can’t quite manage. It requires a different quality of attention. You notice more. The mind stays present rather than drifting, because there’s something to actually look at. And that quality of alert, engaged presence, what some researchers call soft fascination, is deeply restorative in a way that is easy to underestimate until you experience it.
Make it a May intention: one new walk before the month is out. That’s all.
Community
The gift of showing up
One of the quieter findings in research on wellbeing after sixty is how much a sense of being needed matters. Not in an exhausting, self-sacrificing way, but in the simple sense of knowing that your presence makes a difference to someone.
This May, consider where you might show up for someone who would value it. A friend who has been a little quieter than usual. A neighbour who lives alone. A local group that could use an extra pair of hands or a reliable presence. These things cost relatively little and tend to return considerably more than they ask.
Connection, after all, is not just good for the soul. The research on its effects on physical health, immunity, and longevity is about as consistent as research on anything gets.
Thank you for being part of the Pure Living After 60 community.
Wishing you a warm, unhurried, and genuinely joyful May.
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