Date Presented 03/21/24
The differences in activity levels during instrumental activities of daily living and physical activity between young and older adults are discussed. The findings are important to consider when recommending appropriate activities for health benefits.
Primary Author and Speaker: Sarah R. Core
Additional Authors and Speakers: Shaila Kennedy, Haleigh Katherine Solochier, Charlotte Pete, Young Joo Kim
PURPOSE: This study examined the differences in activity levels during instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and physical activity between young and older adults living in the community. Lifestyle physical activity, such as IADLs, has the potential to overcome typical barriers of physical activity and help individuals be more active in their natural environment for health benefits [1,2]. Our study investigated the impact of age on objective activity levels during lifestyle physical activity for accurate activity recommendation.
DESIGN: An observational, repeated-measures design was used. Participant are 48 healthy young adults and 42 healthy older adults. Participants have been recruited from the university and local community using a non-probability, convenient sampling.
METHOD: Participants wore four ActiGraph GT9X Link accelerometers on their dominant and non-dominant wrists and hips to collect objective activity levels (vector magnitude 3 [VM3] counts). Participants performed 10-min bed making, 10-min vacuuming, and 10-min walking (all at 3.0-3.3 MET levels) in lab environment. Mann-Whitney U tests were used with an alpha level of .05.
RESULTS: The preliminary analyses (N=48 young adults; N=19 older adults) showed significant differences in VM3 counts during bed-making (z=4.59, p<.001), vacuuming (z=3.55, p<.001), and walking (z=3.14, p=.002) between young and older adults, with higher VM3 counts in young adults during all activities.
CONCLUSION: The preliminary results show that young adults show higher activity levels than older adults during IADLs and physical activity. When recommending activities to young or older adults for the purpose of increasing their activity levels for health benefits, it is recommended to objectively measure activity levels during actual performance. In addition, it is important to recognize that the same activity may be performed at different activity levels by individuals at different ages.
References
Rozanski, A. (2023). New principles, the benefits, and practices for fostering a physically active lifestyle. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2023.04.002
Lee, S. Y., Nyunt, M. S. Z., Gao, Q., Gwee, X., Chua, D. Q. L., Yap, K. B., Wee, S. L., & Ng, T. P. (2022). Longitudinal associations of housework with frailty and mortality in older adults: Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study 2. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 962. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03591-6
