Ten thousand steps and more. Promote a more active lifestyle from birth to nursing home. This is the shocking formula of sports policy expert Régis Juanico in his book manifesto Let’s go ! (L’Aube-Fondation Jean Jaurès, 146 pages, 16 euros), in which this former MP makes concrete proposals to get all French people moving (again).

But if great efforts are made in this direction for the youngest, this is less obvious for the elderly and especially the very old. What do we know today about their physical activity (PA) levels? How to increase it? These questions are all the more important because in many countries those over 80 or even 90 years of age represent the fastest growing population segment. As with other age groups, the benefits of PA are clearly demonstrated. She “Slows down age-related physiological changes, improves the health of older people in its three physical, psychological and social dimensions and contributes to the prevention of chronic age-related diseases.”summarizes the High Authority for Health in one Benchmark 2019. The body particularly highlights the positive effects “in the prevention and treatment of fragility and the risk of falls”Maintaining autonomy, cognition.

With the development of physical activity sensors, it is becoming increasingly easier to objectively estimate the number of daily steps in a given population. However, few studies of this kind have been conducted in nonagenarians and older, note Sari Aaltonen (University of Helsinki, Finland) and colleagues in a Article published on December 6th in Plus one. They recruited 38 participants from a Finnish cohort of nonagenarians and equipped them with an accelerometer for a week, except at night.

An average of 2,931 steps per day

These sensors showed low daily activity, an average of 2,931 steps and sedentary time of more than 13 hours and 30 minutes. The results were comparable for women and men. Daily activity time averaged 111.4 minutes, including 100.7 minutes at low intensity and only 10.7 minutes at moderate or high intensity. These were primarily periods of activity lasting less than 3 minutes, interspersed with 20 to 60 minutes of sedentary time. “With such values, we are far from the daily recommendations for adults,” emphasize Sari Aaltonen and her team, who state that only three of the 38 participants reached the threshold of 7,000 steps per day that is considered health-promoting.

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