To boost quality of life while aging, stay active or get active by 55

New research from Charles Perkins Centre and University of Sydney’s School of Public Health finds that for women, consistent adherence to physical activity guidelines throughout mid-age is linked with a higher health-related quality of life.

The study was published today in PLOS Medicine open-access journal.

Lead author Dr Binh Nguyen, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney said: “Our study shows that it’s important for women to be active throughout mid-age to gain the most benefits for physical health in later life. Ideally, women should increase their activity levels to meet the guidelines by age 55.”

The evidence for an association between physical activity and health-related quality of life has been based primarily on cross-sectional studies and short-term randomized controlled trials. Few longitudinal studies have measured physical activity at more than one time point and examined the long-term causal effects of exercise.

In the new study, researchers used data collected at three-year intervals beginning in 1996 from 11,336 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. The study participants were 47 to 52 years old when the study began.

Participants were classified as either meeting WHO physical activity guidelines (150 minutes of activity a week) consistently throughout the fifteen-year exposure period; not initially meeting the guidelines but starting to meet them at age 55, 60 or 65; or never meeting the guidelines. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the physical health composite score (PCS) and mental health composite score (MCS) from the Short Form 36 Health Survey, which includes 36 questions about functional health and well-being.

- On average, women who consistently met physical activity guidelines throughout mid-age and those who first started to meet guidelines at age 55 had a three-point higher PCS 46.93 and 46.96 respectively

-  Compared to those that did not consistently meet physical activity guidelines throughout mid-age with a lower PCS 43.90.

The effect of physical activity on the PCS was significant even after controlling for socioeconomic factors and pre-existing health diagnoses. However, there was no significant association between physical activity and mental health composite score (MCS).

“Combined with existing evidence, this study contributes to growing evidence of the benefits of maintaining or adopting an active lifestyle in mid-age,” the authors say.

“An important public health message is that being active for as many years as possible, even if women start to meet physical activity guidelines in their mid-50s, could have important health benefits in terms of physical health, especially in physical functioning,” Dr Nguyen said.

“Overall, the findings from this study highlight the importance of being physically active for as long as possible to gain the most benefits for quality of life, especially in relation to physical health.”

Declaration: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The research on which this press release is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, which is managed by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle. We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care for funding and to the women who provided the survey data.