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Published on: July 5, 2017
Older women's personal goals and exercise activity: an 8-year follow-up
Milla Saajanaho1, Anne Viljanen, Sanna Read
1Gerontology Research Center, Dept. of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Abstract:
This study investigated the associations of personal goals with exercise activity, as well as the relationships between exercise-related and other personal goals, among older women. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs were used with a sample of 308 women ages 66-79 at baseline. Women who reported exercise-related personal goals were 4 times as likely to report high exercise activity at baseline than those who did not report exercise-related goals. Longitudinal results were parallel. Goals related to cultural activities, as well as to busying oneself around the home, coincided with exercise-related goals, whereas goals related to own and other people's health and independent living lowered the odds of having exercise-related goals. Helping older adults to set realistic exercise-related goals that are compatible with their other life goals may yield an increase in their exercise activity, but this should be evaluated in a controlled trial.
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