Lecture 4

Question 1

active living concept

Answer 1

Active living is a way of life in which physical activity is

valued and integrated into daily life

Question 2

active living includes

Answer 2

• Domestic activities – house/yard
• Work or volunteer-related activity
• Formal exercise programs
• Leisure time pursuits – dancing, walks
• Recreational activities – bowling
• Competitive sport

Question 3

what is exercise gerontology- deal with understanding

Answer 3

• How and why people spend leisure time the way they do
(active or not active)
• Why certain individuals and cultures value physical activity,
exercise and sport more than others
• EG aims to promote high quality aging and advance health
over the lifespan for individuals, groups and communities

Question 4

measurement allows researchers and health care professionals to

Answer 4

-Specify which aspects of physical activity are important for a
particular health outcome
-Monitor changes in physical activity over time
-Determine physical, psychological and social changes that
occur with regular physical activity
-Monitor the effectiveness of an intervention
-Determine the prevalence of people following guidelines for
physical activity

Question 5

what are the problems with doing research on seniors

Answer 5

• Limited accessibility of subjects
• Small samples/high dropout / illness / death
• Institutional settings – include?
• Using highly motivated and active subjects
• Non-representative samples
• Protocol and cost of economic research
• Tools for older adults only
• Heterogeneity of older adults

Question 6

why should governments invest in healthy aging initiatives

Answer 6

-health care costs decrease

Question 7

longitudinal studies problems

Answer 7

• Following one group throughout the lifespan

- high cost in time and money

Question 8

longitudinal studies done

Answer 8

• Framingham (5000 subjects)
• Baltimore (1700 subjects)
• Harvard Alumni studies
• Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

Question 9

ways of measuring activity levels

Answer 9

• Self report
• Survey
•Pedometers/accelerometers
• Heart rate monitors
• Doubly labeled water
• Direct observation
• VO2 max
Fit bits etc….

Question 10

basic field tests

Answer 10

• Endurance – one mile walk, 6 minute walk
• Balance – one foot stand
• Muscle endurance – how many reps in 30 sec?
• Flexibility – seated hamstring, back scratch…
• Body composition – height, weight, postural assessment,
calipers…

Question 11

example of senior exercise tool

Answer 11

•Single item measure: “How often in the past week have
you engaged in light/moderate/strenuous physical
activity?”
• Multi-item – history of participation as well as feelings
about participation
• PASE – Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (Washburn
et al., 1997) Online:

Question 12

problems measuring activity levels

Answer 12

• Efficacy of self reports
• Accuracy of instrumentation for seniors
• Individual differences in response to activity
• Recall error