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Physical activity and retirement: original analysis of responses to the English Adult Active Lives Survey

  • Original article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

Opportunities for older adults to do physical activity may depend on other commitments. We wanted to see if reported physical activity was higher or lower among older adults depending on work status: full-time, part-time work or retired.

Methods

This is a secondary analysis of The Active Lives Survey 2016/17 in England. The dataset was used to see how active people were depending on employment or retirement status. Types of physical activity (PA) considered were: leisure, gardening, active travel and combined total, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, disability, rurality and deprivation in models using hurdle regression. Analysis was divided into mostly working age (under 65) or mostly retired (age 65 +) to have sensitivity to the likely transition point.

Results

Total PA was significantly greater for retired persons compared to both full- and part-time workers age 55–64, while being retired or working part-time at age 65–74 meant more PA. People did more leisure or gardening with less work, but active travel decreased with fewer work hours, at all ages. Retirement meant more leisure and gardening PA but less active travel.

Conclusions

Demand for opportunities to engage in leisure and gardening PA appears to be high among retired people. Greater promotion of active travel in this cohort may be possible.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to James Goldson of Sport England (SE) for supplying us with the survey data and answering many questions about it. Nicola Wildash of SE gave helpful comments on draft summaries. Paul Hunter (UEA) got us started with hurdle regression. We are also grateful to Andy Jones and Karen Milton of UEA who shaped our protocol and study objectives. Three anonymous referees gave thoughtful comments on how to improve our manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant from Sport England. The funder had no role in analysis, interpretation or decision to publish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Julii Brainard, Kathleen Lane & Charlotte Salter

  2. Active Norfolk, Easton and Otley College, Norwich, NR9 5DX, UK

    Rachel Cooke

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  1. Julii Brainard
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  2. Rachel Cooke
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  3. Kathleen Lane
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Correspondence to Julii Brainard.

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The authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Separate ethical approval to process these data was not required because this is secondary data analysis.

Informed consent

Informed consent was implied with original survey data collection. Consent was given to use the information to improve services.

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Brainard, J., Cooke, R., Lane, K. et al. Physical activity and retirement: original analysis of responses to the English Adult Active Lives Survey. Int J Public Health 65, 871–880 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01438-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01438-8

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