GLADE study about lifelong well-being and healthy aging in the EC2U 7 countries and in Europe: THEMATIC REPORT ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Virtual Institute for Good Health and Well-being (GLADE) is the EC2U Alliance’s Virtual Institute aimed to develop specific approaches in education, research, innovation and service transfer to the community in areas of the third UNSDG: Good Health and Well-being for All. This thematic report on physical activity is related to the GLADE study about lifelong well-being and healthy aging in the EC2U 7 countries and in Europe. The report starts with an introduction to the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan on Physical Activity followed by description of the current physical activity levels within each of the EC2U country. After that, the national physical activity recommendations will be introduced. Finally, successful initiatives and programs of promoting physical activity across EC2U countries are presented. The report and its content will be presented in the EC2U Jena forum in 22-24th May 2023. The report will also be published in the EC2U alliance website

Multi-trajectory analysis of changes in physical activity and body mass index in relation to retirement : Finnish Retirement and Aging study

Funding Information: This study was supported by funding granted by the Academy of Finland (321409 and 329240 to JV, 286294, 319246, 294154, 332030 to SS), Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (to SS); Juho Vainio Foundation (to SS), and Hospital District of Southwest Finland (to SS) The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2022 Lintuaho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background Physical activity and body mass index (BMI) have been reported to change around retirement. The objective was to examine the concurrent changes in physical activity and BMI around retirement, which have not been studied before. In addition, the associations of different demographic characteristics with these changes were examined. Methods The prospective cohort study consisted of 3, 351 participants in the ongoing Finnish Retirement and Ageing Study (FIREA). Repeated postal survey, including questions on physical activity and body weight and height, was conducted once a year up to five times before and after the retirement transition, the mean follow-up time being 3.6 years (SD 0.7). Group-based multi-trajectory modeling was used to identify several clusters with dissimilar concurrent changes in physical activity and BMI within the studied cohort. Results Of the participants, 83% were women. The mean age at the last wave before retirement was 63.3 (SD 1.4) years. Four clusters with different trajectories of physical activity and BMI were identified. BMI remained stable around retirement transition in all four clusters, varying from normal weight to class II obesity. The association of BMI trajectories with physical activity levels were inverse, however, each activity trajectory showed a temporary increase during the retirement transition. Conclusions Retirement seems to have more effect on physical activity than BMI, showing a temporary increase in physical activity at the time of retirement.Peer reviewe

Eläköityvien terveyden edistämiseen kannattaa panostaa

Keskimääräisen eliniän pidentyessä myös eläkkeellä vietetyt vuodet lisääntyvät. Jotta nämä vuodet olisivat mahdollisimman terveitä ja toimintakykyisiä, terveyden edistämiseen tähtäävät toimet tulisi aloittaa riittävän varhain. Eläköityminen itsessään tarjoaa hyvän mahdollisuuden elintapojen tarkasteluun ja tarvittavien muutosten tekemiseen, koska työhön liittyvät kuormitustekijät poistuvat ja aikaa itsestä huolehtimiseen on enemmän. Ikääntyvän väestön terveyden edistämisen näkökulmasta eläköityminen on hyvä ajankohta vaikuttaa koko ikäryhmään. Toisaalta sairauksien ehkäisyn ja toimintakyvyn säilymisen kannalta erityisen tärkeää on tunnistaa ajoissa riskihenkilöt ja kohdentaa jatkotoimenpiteet heihin. Tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet ehkäisyn hyödyt erityisesti sydän- ja verisuonisairauksien hoidossa, kaatumisten ja murtumien ehkäisyssä sekä kognitiivisen ja fyysisen toimintakyvyn ylläpitämisessä. Terveysteknologia on avannut uusia mahdollisuuksia ehkäisyyn ja hoidon seurantaan myös ikäihmisten osalta. </p

Psychological Distress During the Retirement Transition and the Role of Psychosocial Working Conditions and Social Living Environment

Objectives: Mental health is determined by social, biological, and cultural factors and is sensitive to life transitions. We examine how psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and cumulative risk factors are associated with mental health changes during the retirement transition. Method: We use data from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study on public sector employees (n = 3,338) retiring between 2014 and 2019 in Finland. Psychological distress was measured with the General Health Questionnaire annually before and after retirement and psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and accumulation of risk factors at the study wave prior to retirement. Results: Psychological distress decreased during the retirement transition, but the magnitude of the change was dependent on the contexts individuals retire from. Psychological distress was higher among those from poorer psychosocial working conditions (high job demands, low decision authority, job strain), poorer social living environment (low neighborhood social cohesion, small social network), and more cumulative risk factors (work/social/both). During the retirement transition, greatest reductions in psychological distress were observed among those with poorer conditions (work: absolute and relative changes, p [Group x Time interactions] < .05; social living environment and cumulative risk factors: absolute changes, p [Group x Time interactions] < .05). Discussion: Psychosocial work-related stressors lead to quick recovery during the retirement transition but the social and cumulative stressors have longer-term prevailing effects on psychological distress. More studies are urged incorporating exposures across multiple levels or contexts to clarify the determinants of mental health during the retirement transition and more generally at older ages.Peer reviewe

Association of sleep with cognitive function during retirement transition : the Whitehall II study

Study Objectives Sleep duration and difficulties have been shown to associate with cognitive function. This study examined how changes in sleep and in cognitive function are associated during retirement transition. Methods The study population consisted of 2980 Whitehall II study participants, who retired during the follow-up, whose sleep was queried, and cognitive function measured (inductive reasoning and verbal memory) before and after retirement (follow-up 16 years). Using the last information on sleep before and the first after retirement, participants were categorized into constantly without (59%), increasing (13%), decreasing (11%), and constantly with (18%) sleep difficulties; and constantly short (26%), increasing (19%), decreasing (8.5%), and constantly mid-range (47%) sleep duration. Change in cognitive function during retirement transition was examined by sleep change groups using linear regression analyses with generalized estimating equations. Results More pronounced decline in inductive reasoning during retirement transition was observed among participants with increasing sleep difficulties (-1.96, 95% CI -2.52 to -1.41) compared to those constantly without sleep difficulties (-1.25, 95% CI -1.52 to -0.98) and constantly with sleep difficulties (-1.26, 95% CI -1.75 to -0.92). Decreasing sleep difficulties (-0.64, 95% CI -0.86 to -0.43) were associated with a more pronounced decline in verbal memory when compared to constantly without sleep difficulties (-0.42, 95% CI -0.52 to -0.32) in post-retirement period. No statistically significant differences across sleep duration groups in cognitive function were observed. Conclusions Increasing and decreasing sleep difficulties may be associated with accelerated decline in cognitive function during retirement transition and post-retirement.Peer reviewe

Association of sleep with cognitive function during retirement transition : the Whitehall II study

Study Objectives Sleep duration and difficulties have been shown to associate with cognitive function. This study examined how changes in sleep and in cognitive function are associated during retirement transition. Methods The study population consisted of 2980 Whitehall II study participants, who retired during the follow-up, whose sleep was queried, and cognitive function measured (inductive reasoning and verbal memory) before and after retirement (follow-up 16 years). Using the last information on sleep before and the first after retirement, participants were categorized into constantly without (59%), increasing (13%), decreasing (11%), and constantly with (18%) sleep difficulties; and constantly short (26%), increasing (19%), decreasing (8.5%), and constantly mid-range (47%) sleep duration. Change in cognitive function during retirement transition was examined by sleep change groups using linear regression analyses with generalized estimating equations. Results More pronounced decline in inductive reasoning during retirement transition was observed among participants with increasing sleep difficulties (-1.96, 95% CI -2.52 to -1.41) compared to those constantly without sleep difficulties (-1.25, 95% CI -1.52 to -0.98) and constantly with sleep difficulties (-1.26, 95% CI -1.75 to -0.92). Decreasing sleep difficulties (-0.64, 95% CI -0.86 to -0.43) were associated with a more pronounced decline in verbal memory when compared to constantly without sleep difficulties (-0.42, 95% CI -0.52 to -0.32) in post-retirement period. No statistically significant differences across sleep duration groups in cognitive function were observed. Conclusions Increasing and decreasing sleep difficulties may be associated with accelerated decline in cognitive function during retirement transition and post-retirement.Peer reviewe

Changes in prolonged sedentary behaviour across the transition to retirement

Background Prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases. This longitudinal study examined changes in daily total, prolonged (>= 30 min) and highly prolonged (>= 60 min) sedentary time across the transition to retirement by gender and occupational status. Methods We included 689 aging workers (mean (SD) age before retirement 63.2 (1.6) years, 85% women) from the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study (FIREA). Sedentary time was measured annually using a wrist-worn triaxial ActiGraph accelerometer before and after retirement with on average 3.4 (range 2-4) measurement points. Results Women increased daily total sedentary time by 22 min (95% CI 13 to 31), prolonged sedentary time by 34 min (95% CI 27 to 42) and highly prolonged sedentary time by 15 min (95% CI 11 to 20) in the transition to retirement, and remained at the higher level of sedentary time years after retirement. The highest increase in total and prolonged sedentary time was observed among women retiring from manual occupations. Men had more total and prolonged sedentary time compared with women before and after retirement. Although no changes in men's sedentary time were observed during the retirement transition, there was a gradual increase of 33 min (95% CI 6 to 60) in prolonged sedentary time from pre-retirement years to post-retirement years. Conclusion The transition to retirement was accompanied by an abrupt increase in prolonged sedentary time in women but a more gradual increase in men. The retirement transition may be a suitable time period for interventions aiming to decrease sedentary behaviour.Peer reviewe