A UK study of nearly 1,500 older adults has shown a link between reduced physical activity and a lower quality of life.
The study conducted by the University of Cambridge on adults aged over 60 has also found that an increase in sedentary time spent watching TV or reading can be similarly connected to a less comfortable, healthy, and enjoyable life in later years.
The researchers say this highlights the need to encourage older adults to remain physically active.
Physical activity – particularly when it is moderate-intensity and raises the heart rate – is known to reduce the risk of contracting a number of diseases, including stroke, diabetes, cancer and heart problems.
The NHS recommends that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical exercise a week. This could be anything from a brisk 20 minute daily walk to gardening, riding a bike. dancing or tennis.
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.
Activity levels among 1,433 participants aged 60 and above were measured for the study using accelerometers, also known as movement monitors.
The participants had been recruited to the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer)-Norfolk study, a population-based evaluation funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK, of approximately 30,000 men and women aged 40-79 years taken on between 1993 and 1998.
The participants have continued to provide follow up data and attend additional health checks for over 25 years.
The University of Cambridge team also looked at health-related quality of life. This is a measure of health and wellbeing that includes pain, the ability of a person to care for themselves, and anxiety and 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 characteristically linked with an increased risk of hospitalisation, worse outcomes following such treatment, and early death.
The participants were followed up around six years after enrolling on the study so that changes in their behaviour and quality of life could be tracked.
The results published in the online-only medical journal Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, showed that 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.
Simultaneously, the total sedentary time increased by an average of around 33 minutes a day for men and about 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 inactivity were also associated with poorer quality of life – a drop in the score of 0.012 for every one minute a day rise 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.”