Move! Surefire ways to motivate and inspire older adults to be active by Marilynn Larkin, MA

Recent research confirms that Americans spend the majority of their time (55% or close to 8 hours a day overall) in behaviors that require little energy expenditure. Investigators used activity monitors to measure how many hours in a waking day adults and children engaged in behaviors associated with sitting, reclining and lying down. Not surprisingly, the most sedentary groups were older adolescents and adults over age 60, who spent about 60% of their waking time in sedentary pursuits. Moreover, although women were less active than men before age 30, men became less active than women after age 60. The increase in low-energy activity logged by older adults, especially males, may relate to their having more leisure time after retirement and/or developing health conditions, according to the researchers.