Self-rated wellbeing and physical activity associations in European older adults

Background: Physical activity and self-rated wellbeing have important benefits to health. However, scientific knowledge regarding their relationship among older adults is scarce. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the associations between physical activity frequency and several dimensions of self-rated wellbeing, in a representative sample of European older adults from 28 countries. Methods: This study is based on the European Social Survey round 6, 2012. It had a total sample size of 12,341 older adults (5100 men, 7241 women) with mean age 73.8 +/- 6.6 years. Information was collected through a questionnaire, filled-in during an hour-long face-to-face interview. Physical activity was accessed using the question On how many of the last 7 days you were physically active continuously for 20 minutes or longer? and six dimensions of self-rated wellbeing were used. Results: Physical activity in the last 7 days was linearly related with all dimension of the self-rated wellbeing and with wellbeing total score for both sexes (men, =0.09, 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.10, p<.001; women, =0.10, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.11, p<.001). Conclusions: Physical activity promotion should be stressed as a meaningful strategy to improve people's wellbeing overall. This strategy has special importance when considering the older adult population.