For Seniors, Staying Active Is A Walk in the (Dog) Park

(Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash)

A new study "tracking the well-being of thousands of residents of the English county of Norfolk" highlights just how helpful having a dog can be in encouraging a more active lifestyle, especially for seniors.

"We know that physical activity levels decline as we age, but we’re less sure about the most effective things we can do to help people maintain their activity as they get older," said lead author Yu-Tzu Wu from the University of Cambridge.

The study found that "On average, people who owned dogs were sedentary for 30 minutes less per day than those who didn't have canine companions." On cold or rainy days, the difference was even starker: "Dog owners were 20 percent more active in bad weather than non-dog owners."

As project lead Andy Jones from University of East Anglia's Norwich School of Medicine, concludes: "Being driven by something other than our own needs might be a really potent motivator and we need to find ways of tapping into it when designing exercise interventions in the future.”

To read the full article on mother nature network, click here: https://goo.gl/UMygFM