• Question: how much less do older people exercise compared to younger people?

    Asked by Dm11 to Siana on 17 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Siana Jones

      Siana Jones answered on 17 Nov 2015:

      Hi Dm11, I’m not sure. It’s a good question because we know that exercise capacity reduces with age but I guess it depends where you draw the line between young and old? what age do you think qualifies someone as being old? (be carful here) I think it’s actually quite old (70+) before your body really can’t be as active anymore (that doesn’t include athletic performance which is slightly different and starts to decline around your 30s, depending what sport it is). It also depends on how much you use your body, I know some very fit older people who perhaps spend more time being active than young people but usually at a lower intensity, so it also depends on how you measure activity, do you measure ‘time being active’ or ‘distance walked/cycled’? or something else?

      So, I’ve not really answered your question, sorry. I’m not sure there is an answer but it’s certainly a thought provoking question. Thanks.

Comments