Frailty is a major health issue for older individuals, but going on walks could help lessen the symptoms.
Older adults are often more vulnerable to stress, illness, or injury due to a condition known as frailty. However, a study covered by News Medical Life Sciences detailed the positive impact that walking outdoors can have on elderly people.
The study, dubbed Getting Older Adults Outdoors, or GO-OUT, found that there were significant short-term reductions in frailty in older people if they took weekly walks. The researchers discovered that it was just as effective to organize a weekly walking group as it was to merely call up participants each week and remind them to take a walk outdoors.
Unfortunately, longer-term impacts were inconclusive, partly due to the breakout of COVID-19, and partly because many of the participants found it difficult to take regular walks outside in the bitterly cold winter in Canada, where the study took place.
The positive short-term impact of walking outdoors opens the door for better care to be given to elderly people in the future. Although keeping active has always been recommended to almost everyone — particularly the older generation — this study highlights the importance of walking outside to reduce frailty.
Health benefits aside, taking a walk with a partner or friend can be a great way to reduce social isolation. Sadly, around 43% of Americans over 60 report feeling lonely, according to the Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System journal.
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Harvard Medical School found that loneliness and social isolation are linked to a higher risk of "heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression, chronic stress, and premature death," which makes the case for walking with a pal even more compelling.
As well as that, even just being outdoors can work wonders on your mental health. From improving your mood and attention, lowering your stress levels, and even reducing your risk of psychiatric disorders, the benefits of being in the great outdoors are well-studied.
The more that studies like GO-OUT link time in nature to positive health benefits, the more we will hopefully treasure these green spaces and recognize the importance of preserving them.
"[The study] highlights the value of employing diverse intervention strategies to address frailty," the researchers commented. "[It] offers two actionable approaches for consideration and underscores the need for broader, innovative paradigms to reduce frailty in the growing older population."
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