The impact of leisure activities on older adults' cognitive function, physical function, and mental health

Giovanni Sala; Daniela Jopp; Fernand Gobet; Madoka Ogawa; Yoshiko Ishioka; Yukie Masui; Hiroki Inagaki; Takeshi Nakagawa; Saori Yasumoto; Tatsuro Ishizaki; Yasumichi Arai; Kazunori Ikebe; Kei Kamide; Yasuyuki Gondo

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225006

The impact of leisure activities on older adults' cognitive function, physical function, and mental health

PLoS One. 2019 Nov 8;14(11):e0225006. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225006. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Giovanni Sala¹, Daniela Jopp², Fernand Gobet³, Madoka Ogawa⁴, Yoshiko Ishioka⁵, Yukie Masui⁴, Hiroki Inagaki⁴, Takeshi Nakagawa⁶, Saori Yasumoto⁷, Tatsuro Ishizaki⁴, Yasumichi Arai⁸, Kazunori Ikebe⁹, Kei Kamide¹⁰, Yasuyuki Gondo⁷

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan.
² Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.
⁶ National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
⁷ Graduate School of Human Sciences, University of Osaka, Osaka, Japan.
⁸ Center for Supercentenarian Medical Research, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
¹⁰ Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

Abstract

Engagement in leisure activities has been claimed to be highly beneficial in the elderly. Practicing such activities is supposed to help older adults to preserve cognitive function, physical function, and mental health, and thus to contribute to successful aging. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the impact of leisure activities on these constructs in a large sample of Japanese older adults (N = 809; age range 72-74). The model exhibited an excellent fit (CFI = 1); engaging in leisure activities was positively associated with all the three successful aging indicators. These findings corroborate previous research carried out in Western countries and extend its validity to the population of Eastern older adults. Albeit correlational in nature, these results suggest that active engagement in leisure activities can help older adults to maintain cognitive, physical, and mental health. Future research will clarify whether there is a causal relationship between engagement in leisure activities and successful aging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognition*
Exercise*
Female
Humans
Leisure Activities*
Male
Mental Health*
Models, Theoretical

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [17F17313 to GS; 17H02633 to YG], the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan [21330152 to YG; 26310104 to YG], the Grant for promoting Human Sciences research by Osaka university Graduate school of Human Sciences and the International Joint Research Promotion Program at Osaka. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.