The impact of time cost of physical exercise on health outcomes by older adults: the DR’s EXTRA Study

Abstract

When the motivation for exercise is high and people are retired, the cost of time used for physical exercise may be lower and individuals may exercise more compared to individuals with a low motivational level and in working life. The aim was to study the effect of time cost of physical exercise on the amount of physical exercise and on health-related quality of life. We used 2-year data (n = 1,292) from a 4-year randomised controlled trial in a population-based sample of Eastern Finnish men and women, 57-78 years of age at baseline, in 2005-2006. In the statistical analysis, physical exercise and health outcomes were assumed to be endogenous variables explained with a set of exogenous variables. The statistical modelling was done by panel data instrumental variable regressions. Health-related quality of life was evaluated by the RAND 36-item survey and motives for exercise with a questionnaire. Joy as the motivation for physical exercise and retirement increased the amount of physical exercise per week (p < 0.001). A higher amount of exercise was associated with physical (p < 0.001) and mental (p < 0.001) components of quality of life. Moreover, a higher amount of physical exercise decreased the metabolic risk factor score (p < 0.001). The motivation and extra time, i.e. retirement, have a significant impact on the time spent on physical exercise (p < 0.001). Our data agree with the theory that high motivation and retirement lower the time cost of physical exercise. The results emphasise that motivation and the labour market position are important in determining the cost of physical exercise.

What is the time cost of exercise? Cost of time spent on exercise in a primary health care intervention to increase physical activity

“…This is in line with an earlier study of the value of travel time, which found that the value was 22.5% lower among the unemployed [21]. The present study, like an earlier study [22], suggests that the opportunity cost (value of leisure activity forgone) may be lower for unemployed individuals. For unemployed individuals in particular, then, it should be more relevant to base the yardstick on WTP for cleaning or similar.…”

The Impact of Retirement on Cardiovascular Disease and Its Risk Factors: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies

“…Among the included studies, 36 examined the effects of retirement on PA ( Supplementary Table S2d ). The absence of work activities provides an opportunity for free time; thus, it is not surprising to see that many studies showed an increase in leisure-time PA after retirement ( Brown, Heesch, & Miller, 2009 ; Eibich, 2015 ; Henkens, van Solinge, & Gallo, 2008 ; Holstila, Manty, Rahkonen, Lahelma, & Lahti, 2017 ; Insler, 2014 ; Koeneman et al, 2012 ; Kuvaja-Köllner, Valtonen, Komulainen, Hassinen, & Rauramaa, 2013 ; Lahti & Laaksonen, 2011 ; Midanik, Soghikian, Ransom, & Tekawa, 1995 ; Motegi, Nishimura, & Terada, 2016 ; Oshio & Kan, 2017 ; Sjösten et al, 2012 ; Stenholm et al, 2016 ; Syse et al, 2017 ).…”

The Effects of Retirement on Health-Related Quality of Life of Retirement-Aged Adults for Four Marital Status Subgroups

“…To address the endogeneity problem and the potential reverse causality, this study employs the method of Instrumental Variable (IV) estimation which has been well proven in the literature for using the data as similar to the data this paper dealing with. Previous studies (Dave, et al, 2008;Latif, 2012;Kuvaja-Kӧllner, et al, 2013;Eibich, 2015;Zhu, 2016;Godard, 2016;Hessel, 2016;Motegi, et al, 2016) suggested that the estimation would be restricted to that retirement was the only channel through which individual health outcomes could be affected by the instrumental variables. A good instrument should be strongly correlated with actual retirement behavior, but it should not directly affect health outcomes.…”

“…To evaluate whether the effects of retirement on health differ by marital status, the goal of this paper is to identify the differences in the effects of retirement on physical/mental health as health-related quality of life (HRQOL) across marital status subgroups (married, divorced, never married, and widowed) for the retirement-aged adults (55-74 years of age) for all 50 states and Washington D.C. from 2005 to 2016 in the U.S. The retirement ages as 55-74 years of age is defined by the study (Kuvaja-Kӧllner, et al, 2013), but the retirement ages have been widely defined from 45 to 79 years of age in the earlier studies (Bonsang, et al, 2012;Eibich, 2015;Vo, et al, 2015;Hessel, 2016;Zhu, 2016). The period from 2005 to 2016 is meaningful for the social security retirement benefitsboth the early retirement age of 62 and the full retirement age of 66 had remained unchanged only during the period in the U.S.…”