Older adults who remain more active have a better quality of life, study
finds

Date:
July 4, 2023
Source:
University of Cambridge
Summary:
A reduction in the amount of time spent physically active when
adults are over sixty years old is linked to lower quality of
life, a new study of almost 1,500 adults has shown. The same was
also true for increases in the amount of sedentary time, such as
watching TV or reading. The researchers say this highlights the
need to encourage older adults to remain active.


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A reduction in the amount of time spent physically active when adults
are over sixty years old is linked to lower quality of life, a Cambridge
study of almost 1,500 adults has shown.

The same was also true for increases in the amount of sedentary time,
such as watching TV or reading. The researchers say this highlights the
need to encourage older adults to remain active.

Physical activity -- particularly when it is moderate-intensity and raises
your heart rate -- is known to reduce the risk of a number of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. The NHS recommends
that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or
75 minutes of vigorous- intensity activity a week. Older adults are also recommended to break up prolonged periods of being sedentary with light activity when physically possible, or at least with standing, as this
has distinct health benefits for older people.

A team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge examined
activity levels among 1,433 participants aged 60 and above using accelerometers. The participants had been recruited to the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer)-Norfolk study.

Alongside this, the team also looked at health-related quality of life,
a measure of health and wellbeing that includes pain, ability to care
for yourself and anxiety/mood. Participants were given a score between
0 (worst quality of life) and 1 (best) based on their responses to
a questionnaire.

Lower quality of life scores are linked with an increased risk of hospitalisation, worse outcomes following hospitalisation, and early
death.

Participants were followed up an average of just under six years later
to look at changes in their behaviour and quality of life. The results
of the study are published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes.

On average, six years after their first assessment, both men and women
were doing around 24 minutes less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
per day. At the same time, the total sedentary time increased by an
average of around 33 minutes a day for men and around 38 minutes a day
for women.

Those individuals who did more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
and spent less time sedentary at their first assessment had a higher
quality of life later on. An hour a day spent more active was associated
with a 0.02 higher quality of life score.

For every minute a day less of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
measured six years after the first assessment, quality of life scores
dropped by 0.03.

This means that an individual who spent 15 minutes a day less engaged
in such activity would have seen their score drop by 0.45.

Increases in sedentary behaviours were also associated with poorer quality
of life -- a drop in the score of 0.012 for everyone minute a day increase
in total sedentary time six years after the first measurement. This
means that an individual who spent 15 minutes a day more sitting down
would have seen their score drop by 0.18.

To put the results into a clinical context, a 0.1 point improvement
in quality of life scores has previously been associated with a 6.9%
reduction in early death and a 4.2% reduction in risk of hospitalisation.

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 wellbeing." Because the team measured
physical activity and sedentary behaviour at different points of time,
they say they can be reasonably confident that they have shown a causal
link -- that is, that quality of life improves because people remain
more physically active, for example.

Dr Yerrakalva added: "There are several ways in which improvements in our physical behaviours 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." The EPIC-Norfolk
study is funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK.

Five ways to keep yourself physically-active in older age
* A brisk daily walk -- ideally for around 20 minutes * Gardening *
A bicycle ride * Dancing * Tennis * RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Fitness # Alternative_Medicine #
Patient_Education_and_Counseling # Healthy_Aging
o Mind_&_Brain
# Mental_Health # Intelligence # Social_Psychology #
Child_Development
* RELATED_TERMS
o Adult_attention-deficit_disorder o Sleep_deprivation o
Delirium o Calorie o Methylphenidate o Quality_of_life o
Eustachian_tube o Yoga_(alternative_medicine)

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========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dharani Yerrakalva, Samantha Hajna, Marc Suhrcke, Katrien Wijndaele,
Kate
Westgate, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nick Wareham, Soren Brage, Simon Griffin.

Associations between change in physical activity and sedentary
time and health-related quality of life in older english adults:
the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes,
2023; 21 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12955-023-02137-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230704110923.htm

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