Promoting physical activity and exercise in older adults

Although the benefits of increased physical activity and exercise are universally recognized, many older persons remain sedentary, and relatively few achieve recommended levels of activity. Effective interventions to reverse the lack of physical activity in older adults are clearly needed. By understanding correlates of inactivity and appreciating those factors that contribute to a sedentary lifestyle, appropriate strategies can be employed to help order patients reap the benefits of increased physical activity and exercise. In this article, we offer to the reader a brief overview of the field as well as our own thoughts on how clinicians might help individual patients at a more practical level.