As the years pass, energy dips, joints start to ache and managing a lie-in after yet another sleepless night is the stuff dreams are made of. Exercise drops further down the to-do list just at the time we should be prioritising it, and the struggle to get moving becomes even harder. So how can we make sure we exercise gets on to our daily agenda – and stays there?

Perhaps the answer could come in the form of Kirstie Allsopp, who’s found what works for her in her 50s. ‘When you’re younger, your metabolism is better, your skin is better and your bones are better,’ she told Good Housekeeping. ‘You get older and you’re suddenly a lot achier. But I have to say, I’m probably fitter now than I’ve ever been.’

Kirstie, who lost weight after cutting potatoes, wine and sugar out of her diet, has previously shared that key to her newfound physical fitness is an early start. ‘I usually get up at six and run a bit, walk a bit, round the block – fat burning exercises,’ she told PA Media. ‘So this morning, I did not want to get up at six o’clock – there are mornings when I could really do with an extra hour in bed, but I don’t. Because I know the only way to stop my back hurting – and the only way to keep up my mental health – is to exercise.’

‘I do believe motion is lotion,’ she adds. ‘I do it for my back, because I don’t want to be taking painkillers all the time, and for my mental health.’

And it seems like Kirstie is on to something. Experts say that exercising early in the day can help create a routine that sticks, as there are fewer opportunities for it to be derailed by life. Willpower, studies suggest, is a finite resource… once it’s gone, it’s gone, which means early-morning exercisers have a greater bank of discipline to rely on than people who put off working out until later in the day.