Being active can help prevent disability, a recent study from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago shows. The study found that participating in social activities can help keep disabilities at bay.
Researchers studied 954 adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, with an average age of 82 years old.
When the study began, none of the participants had any disabilities. Each year, the participants had a physical exam and filled out a questionnaire about their social lives. The questionnaire asked how often they went out for meals, traveled, and saw friends and relatives. They were also asked if they could perform certain activities of daily living on their own.
The results showed that people who took part in a lot of social activities were twice as likely as people who did not participate in as many social activities to avoid disabilities that impacted their activities of daily living. They were also one and a half times as likely to avoid disabilities that impacted mobility. “The findings are exciting because social activity is potentially a risk factor that can be modified to help older adults avoid the burdens of disability,” said Bryan James, the lead researcher on the study, in a news release.
Read the full story here.
The above summary of the survey was provided by the Medicare Rights Center