Older adults who are more active have better quality of life: Study

Researchers have discovered that when individuals are over the age of sixty, there is an association between less physical activity and a lower quality of life. The study was published in the journal Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. The same is true for an increase in sedentary activities such as watching TV and reading. According to the researchers, this emphasizes the need to motivate older persons to stay active.
Physical activity is known to reduce your chances of developing many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, especially when it is moderately intense and gets your heart rate up. According to the NHS, adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise every week.

Additionally, it is recommended that older persons replace long periods of inactivity with brief moments of light movement or at least standing, as this has obvious benefits for their health. A team led by researchers from the University of Cambridge examined activity levels among 1,433 participants aged 60 and over using accelerometers. Participants were recruited into the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer)-Norfolk study.

In addition, the team also looked at measures of health-related quality of life, health and well-being including pain, ability to care for themselves, and anxiety/mood. Participants were given a score between 0 (worst quality of life) and 1 (best) based on their answers to the questionnaire. Low quality of life scores are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization, poor outcome after hospitalization, and early death.

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The participants were followed for an average of less than six years to look at changes in their behavior and quality of life.
On average, six years after their first assessment, both men and women were doing about 24 minutes less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day. Also, total sedentary time increased by an average of about 33 minutes per day for men and about 38 minutes per day for women.

Individuals who did more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and spent less sedentary time at their first assessment had better quality of life later. Spending one hour more a day being active was associated with a 0.02 higher quality-of-life score. One less day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, as measured six years after the first assessment, resulted in a 0.03 drop in quality of life scores. This means that a person who spends less time in such an activity, even 15 minutes per day, will see a drop of 0.45 in their score.

An increase in sedentary behavior was also associated with worse quality of life – a score drop of 0.012 for each minute daily of total sedentary time six years after the first measurement. This means that a person who spent 15 minutes more per day sitting saw a 0.18 drop in their score.

To put the results into clinical context, a 0.1-point improvement in quality of life score is associated with a 6.9% reduction in first early death and a 4.2% reduction in the risk of hospitalization. Dr Dharani Yerakalva, from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, said: “Keeping yourself active and limiting – and breaking up where you can – the amount of time you spend sitting down is really important, whether you be at any stage of life’ again. It appears to be particularly important in later life, when it can lead to potentially significant improvements in your quality of life and your physical and mental well-being.”

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Because the team measured physical activity and sedentary behavior at different points in time, they say they can be reasonably confident that they have shown a causal link – that is, quality of life improves because people are more physically active. live, eg. Dr Yerrakalva said: “There are many ways in which improving our physical behavior can help maintain a better quality of life. For example, more physical activity reduces pain in common conditions such as osteoarthritis, and we know that being more physically active improves the muscle strength that allows older adults to continue taking care of themselves. Similarly, depression and anxiety are linked to quality of life, being more active and less sedentary It can be made better.”