New report on barriers to people 50+ remaining active
A report from the Centre for Ageing Better reveals the key factors motivating people in their 50s and 60s to walk and cycle more as a means of travelling around their communities.
The evidence review reveals the things encouraging people to participate in ‘active travel’ include the prospect of improving physical and mental health, being outdoors, feeling independent and in control, and preparing for an active retirement.
Distances that are too great, bad weather, issues around safety, fear of traffic, a lack of confidence, declining health and/or disability and the lack of an active travel habit across the life course are among the factors that act as barriers to people in this age group walking and cycling.
Their research shows that, to increase uptake of active travel, local authorities should invest more in walking and cycling infrastructure – maintaining pavements and cycle lanes, improving deteriorating surfaces and designing street networks that make it easier to get to local shops, services and transport links.
These improvements, along with interventions to change people’s behaviour, could increase levels of active travel amongst this age group and have an important and meaningful impact on both the health of individuals and population health, the report says. To capitalise on the increased interest in active travel sparked by the pandemic, local authorities must invest in supportive infrastructure that encourages people to maintain their active lifestyle.
Further findings will be released in September. Together this will provide a complete evidence base with which to design and implement interventions to increase levels of active travel in people approaching later life.
Dr Aideen Young, Evidence Manager, Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Being physically active is one of the best ways to helps to prevent those chronic, long-term health conditions that impede our ability to live a good later life. And yet the proportion of people who are physically active generally decreases with age.
“Active travel is one of the easiest ways to build routine physical activity into daily life, and the pandemic has added a new incentive for many to find alternatives to public transport. But as this research shows, the areas we live in often contain barriers to walking and cycling, and for many people walking and cycling simply isn’t safe or attractive enough currently.”
