Physical activity is important for everyone, regardless of their age. You heard that many times – you need to exercise to be stronger, healthier, happier and sharper. However, aged care residents might not be moving enough. Scientists at the University of Adelaide have conducted a study, which revealed that moving more brings tremendous quality of life improvements for aged care residents.
Physical education is extremely important, even at an older age. Image credit: Catharsis1990 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Frailty, falls and social isolation are huge health concerns for the older population. This might be part of the reason why the stereotype is that aged care residents do not move much behind the confines of their rooms. Scientists now analysed data from 556 residents across 12 South Australian residential aged care homes and found that at least half of the study’s participants moved out of their wing daily. Furthermore, around 1 in 4 aged care residents venture outside the care home at least weekly. And these people, who move more, live better lives.
Scientists discovered that more movement can be linked with lower mortality rate, lower falls rate, and improved quality of life. Aged care residents who move about more are less, not more, likely to get injured by falling. They live longer, they interact with their surroundings more and are less isolated. This just confirms the idea that physical exercise is good for everyone. And although not as strong as they used to be, older people do not need to be protected like glass dolls in their rooms in aged care facilities.
Dr Agathe Daria Jadczak, the primary author on the research, said: “Conditions such as frailty, loss of muscle mass and malnutrition were found to have a negative impact on residents’ movement, however, there is evidence to suggest that these conditions can be managed through promoting physical activity and adequate nutrition.”
Scientists found that movement among older people in care homes is promoted by the physical and social environment of the residential care home. In other words, the facility itself needs to be welcoming to the residents who want to move. This includes railing, elevators, benches and other infrastructure. Social environment also needs to reward those who move more to make sure that the trips to the other wing or outside are not a chore or a part of physical health regime, but just another thing to do.
Humans are social animals and it is extremely sad that some older people feel lonely. Especially in aged care homes, which should tout the social environment as one of their primary advantages. Only the lucky ones get to grow old and that period of life should be as good as possible in terms of the quality of life.
Source: University of Adelaide