Tom Hanks says he's in "better shape" at age 68 than in his 30s. He can take care of himself now his kids have grown up.

• Tom Hanks said he is in "better shape" at age 68 than he was in his 30s.
• His next film, "Here," follows a family over several decades.
• Hanks said that he found it hard to play the younger version of his character.

Tom Hanks said he's in "better shape" at age 68 than he was in his 30s, because he has more time to focus on his health than he did when he was raising a family.

The actor, best known for movies including "Toy Story" and "Forrest Gump," will next star in filmmaker Robert Zemeckis' "Here," a drama about a family told over several generations. It uses digital de-aging technology to depict Hanks and his costar, Robin Wright, at different ages.

Hanks told Entertainment Tonight of the difficulties of playing the younger version of his character.

He said: "I'm 68 years old. The hardest for us was when we were playing 35. That time where your metabolism stops, gravity starts tearing you down, your bones start wearing off. You stand differently.

"I think I'm in better shape now. You know why? Because my kids are grown up, I'm getting decent exercise, and I can eat right. You can't do that when you're 35. Life is such a burden!"

As life expectancy has risen in recent decades, so has interest in how to stay healthier for longer. Health experts previously told Business Insider that it's never too late to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Hanks was 35 in 1991 and had three children: two from his first marriage, and a third from his second.

In 2016, he told Radio Times that his unhealthy diet in his 30s and 40s led to him developing type 2 diabetes.

He said: "I'm part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady. I was heavy. You've seen me in movies, you know what I looked like. I was a total idiot.

"I thought I could avoid it by removing the buns from my cheeseburgers. Well, it takes a little bit more than that. But my doctor says if I can hit a target weight, I will not have type 2 diabetes anymore."