Active Older Adults Lead Better Quality of Life

A decrease in physical activity time spent by persons over the age of sixty has been related to a lower quality of life, according to a Cambridge research of nearly 1,500 older adults. The same was true for increases in sedentary time, such as watching television or reading. According to the researchers, this underscores the importance of encouraging older persons to be active.

Physical activity, particularly moderate-intensity activity that boosts your heart rate, has been shown to lessen the risk of a variety of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Older Adults should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity every week, according to the NHS. Older folks are also advised to break up extended periods of sedentary behavior with light movement, or at the very least standing, as this has particular health benefits for them.

Using accelerometers, a team lead by researchers from the University of Cambridge assessed the activity levels of 1,433 Older adults. The participants had been recruited for the EPIC-Norfolk project (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer).

In addition, the researchers examined health-related quality of life, a measure of health and well-being that encompasses pain, ability to care for oneself, and anxiety/mood. Based on their responses to a questionnaire, participants were assigned a score ranging from 0 (lowest quality of life) to 1 (best). Lower quality of life scores are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization, poor post-hospitalization outcomes, and premature mortality.

Participants were followed up on an average of little under six years later to see if their behavior and quality of life had changed. The study’s findings were published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes.

Six years after their initial examination, both men and women were doing about 24 minutes less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day on average. Simultaneously, overall inactive time increased by an average of 33 minutes per day for males and 38 minutes per day for women.

Individuals who engaged in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and spent less time sedentary at their initial assessment had a higher quality of life later on. An extra hour of activity per day was related with a 0.02 higher quality of life score.

Quality of life ratings fell by 0.03 for every minute less of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recorded six years after the initial assessment. This suggests that if a person spent 15 minutes a day less engaged in such activity, their score would have dropped by 0.45.

Sedentary behavior increases were also associated with lower quality of life—a 0.012 drop in the score for every minute a day increase in overall sedentary time six years after the first measurement. This suggests that an individual who sat for an additional 15 minutes every day would have had their score decline by 0.18.

To put the findings into clinical context, a 0.1 point increase in quality of life scores has previously been linked to a 6.9% reduction in premature death and a 4.2% reduction in hospitalization risk.

Dr. Dharani Yerrakalva from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge said: “Keeping yourself active and limiting—and where you can, breaking up—the amount of time you spend sitting down is really important whatever stage of life you’re at. This seems to be particularly important in later life, when it can lead to potentially significant improvements to your quality of life and your physical and mental well-being.”

Because the researchers examined physical activity and sedentary behavior at separate moments in time, they believe they can be pretty confident that they have demonstrated a causal link—that is, that people’s quality of life improves as they become more physically active, for example.

Dr. Yerrakalva added, “There are several ways in which improvements in our physical behaviors might 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 muscle strength which allows older adults to continue to care for themselves. Similarly, depression and anxiety are linked to quality of life, and can be improved by being more active and less sedentary.

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