Social Butterflies Find Health on Their Side
Keeping active and involved seems to yield big benefits

(HealthDay News) -- You don't have to be an athlete to stave off the physical effects of aging.

An active social life appears to play a significant role in slowing age-related motor decline, researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

That's good news for people who'd rather play cards, golf or go to a restaurant than hit the treadmill.

"We are social beings," Colin Milner, chief executive of the International Council on Active Aging, in Vancouver, told HealthDay. "If you are socially engaged, you are engaged in all the things that keep you healthy."

While exercise and diet are still important for healthy aging, research also has highlighted the importance of engaging in social and productive activities you enjoy, says the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

The institute cites studies showing that people involved in hobbies and other social and leisure-time activities have a lower risk of health problems, including dementia. One study found that older adults who participated in social activities or engaged in other meaningful pursuits, such as going to a job or gardening, lived longer than those who did not.

The Rush University study involved 906 older adults who participated in a battery of motor function tests and were asked about their participation in social activities. The less social people were, the more rapid their decline in motor function, the study found.

People who are social may reap other benefits as well. Sociable, generous and goal-oriented adults may be happier and less depressed than other people, says the National Institute on Aging.

Such activities may also be a boon for brain function, reported researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their study followed eight women who participated in a youth mentoring program, called Experience Corps, and nine who were wait-listed for the program. The volunteers had MRI brain scans at enrollment and six months later.

The upshot? The women in the mentoring program made gains in key brain regions that support cognitive abilities.

"While the results of this study are preliminary, they hold promise for enhancing and maintaining brain reserve in later life, particularly among sedentary individuals who may benefit most urgently from behavioral interventions like Experience Corps," the study's lead investigator, Michelle Carlson, an associate professor and associate director of the Bloomberg School's Center on Aging and Health, said in a prepared statement.

The findings were reported in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

To reap the benefits, then, that researchers have uncovered, the National Institute on Aging suggests that older adults find an activity that interests them. Just make sure it's fun, not stressful. Consider the following:

• Volunteer at a library, hospital or community health center.
• Join a senior center.
• Play games with friends.
• Travel with a group of older adults.
• Visit family and friends.
• Form or join a book club.
• Take a cooking class.
• Take a group exercise class.
• Sing in a choral group.

On the Web

To learn more about healthy aging, visit the U.S. National Council on Aging. http://www.ncoa.org/assets/files/pdf/Healthy_Aging_Fact_Sheet.pdf

SOURCES: HealthDay News; Colin Milner, chief executive, International Council on Active Aging, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; June 22, 2009, Archives of Internal Medicine; December 2009, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, news release, Dec. 15, 2009; U.S. National Institute on Aging (www.nia.nih.gov)

Author: Karen Pallarito

Publication Date: July 31, 2010

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