More of Us Are Exercising This Year!

By Sondra Forsyth

The 2014 United States of Aging Survey found that 37% Americans 60 and older say they exercise every day, compared with 26% in 2013. Maybe all those reports about how “sitting is the new smoking” are motivating us! Even so, we can do better. Almost 2/3 of us are still not living lives that are active enough to promote good physical and emotional health. Yet older adults who do exercise daily are much more likely than those who never exercise to say the past year of their life has been better than normal.

Not only that, but seniors who set health goals are more than twice as likely to think their overall quality of life will improve compared with those who did not set health goals, and more than three times as likely to be confident their health will be better in future years. The top three health goals set by seniors this year are eating healthier (37%), losing weight (30%), and living a more physically active lifestyle (24%). Here at ThirdAge, we applaud those resolutions and hope that even more Boomers and Beyond get on the health bandwagon!

The results of the 2014 survey were released on July 15th 2014 at the 39th Annual National Association of Area Agencies on Aging Conference
& Tradeshow in Dallas. The United States of Aging Survey is an annual survey conducted by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, National Council on Aging, UnitedHealthcare and USA TODAY.