Theme: Physical activity and movement behaviours
Dr Lucy Lewis is leading an observational study investigating physical activity, mood and cognition of older adults living in residential care. Despite the global ageing population and increases in the number of older adults living in residential care, there is a paucity of literature investigating physical activity in this population.
Lucy used accelerometry to measure the activity of 50 independently mobile older adults across four residential care facilities. On average, participants spent 12.8 hours per day sedentary, 1.6 hours in light activity, and less than 15 minutes per day in moderate or vigorous physical activity. There were no significant associations between activity, cognition or mood. The study has demonstrated that older adults living in residential care in Australia spend most of their day sedentary, and engage in only small amounts of light, and higher intensity activity.
The findings of this study demonstrate a clear need for guidelines for activity for this population, and the design of targeted interventions to increase physical activity and break up sedentary time.
