IF the Crystal Maze did a special edition featuring the old and infirm I think it might closely resemble a trip to Erskine's age-simulation suite. And no one would complete any of their tasks in time.

Kitted out in the green garb, back brace and goggles I resembled a cross between a deep-sea diver and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle - only with far less mobility - as I was dispatched into an ordinary-looking living room with three seemingly simple errands: find three towels and fold them, find and match three pairs of socks and lastly, put on a t-shirt.

The following minutes were a glimpse into the physically and sensory-impaired future that many of us will face in old age. With my shuffling gait, lack of peripheral vision, and the visor discolouring everything in the room into a yellowish haze these routine tasks suddenly became frustrating to the point of despair.

It took me a fairly long time just to distinguish which of the random items of clothing and fabric strewn on the couch actually was a towel. Folding them did not go much better as the gloves and finger restrictions made me clumsy. Matching the socks proved just as difficult, if not worse, as my impaired eyesight struggled to make out patterns and colours.

But the singular failure was my hopeless struggle to put on a t-shirt. Not since the Wimbledon poncho debacle has anyone struggled so long and so unsuccessfully to put on a simple item of clothing. It took me two attempts simply to manoeuvre my arms enough so that I could actually get my head through the hole. But I was eventually defeated when it caught on my artificially hunched back and, with restricted mobility in my arms, I could not pull it past my chest.

The experience is eye-opening. As the saying goes, "old age doesn't come itself", but in youth and health it is impossible to imagine what being old might actually feel like. And the simulator suit does not even mimic the cognitive decline, such as dementia, that often accompany the physical strains.

It is a valuable lesson not just for care staff, but for any of us, on the importance of treating the elderly with patience and compassion. As I watched my faltering motions back on the video recordings I saw echoes of my own 95-year-old grandmother, now in a care home, and I sensed how exhausting every day must be. I will never take being able to fold a towel for granted again.