Survey Shows Seniors More Proactive about their Health
Financial Confidence and Positive Outlook Also on the Upswing
Good news is our favorite kind of news, and a report recently released by The National Council on Aging (NCOA) definitely falls into the good news category. According to a new extensive study from NCOA, called The United States of Aging Survey, America’s seniors are becoming more proactive in improving their health.
The 2014 United States of Aging Survey found that Americans 60 and older report they are more motivated than the past two years to improve their health by exercising regularly and setting health goals — two simple steps which also relate to reported increases in optimism among seniors.
Daily Exercise Increases
According to the third annual survey, more than one-third of seniors (37 percent) say they exercise every day, compared with 26 percent in 2013. For many seniors, high activity levels correspond to a positive perspective on life: seniors who exercise daily are much more likely than those who never exercise to say the past year of their life has been better than normal rather than worse (28 percent compared with 15 percent).
More than half of the seniors surveyed (53 percent) reported setting health goals in 2014, compared with 47 percent in 2013. Seniors who set health goals are more than twice as likely to think their overall quality of life will improve compared with those who did not set health goals (38 percent vs. 16 percent), and more than three times as likely to be confident their health will be better in future years (28 percent vs. 9 percent). The top three health goals set by seniors this year are eating healthier (37 percent), losing weight (30 percent), and living a more physically active lifestyle (24 percent).
When asked who is the most influential person motivating them to live a healthy lifestyle, nearly 4 in 10 seniors (39 percent) said themselves. More than one quarter of seniors (26 percent) said their spouse motivates them, and 15 percent said their adult children do. Regardless of the source of motivation, this year’s uptick in healthy behavior corresponds with a notable shift: for the first time in the three-year history of The United States of Aging Survey, more seniors said the past year of their life was better than normal (24 percent) as opposed to worse than normal (22 percent).
Financial Confidence is On the Rise
Despite remaining concern for the future, seniors are more confident in their financial stability this year compared to 2013 and 2012. Nearly 7 in 10 seniors surveyed (69 percent) said they find it easy to pay monthly bills, continuing an upward trend from 64 percent in 2012. Additionally, 49 percent of seniors are concerned their savings and income will be sufficient to last the rest of their lives, down 4 percentage points since 2013.
Although finances are often a focus during retirement years, seniors rank them among the least important factors driving their optimism: only 5 percent said being financially secure is the key to keeping a positive outlook on life. The top three factors cited by seniors as contributing most to a positive outlook are their faith or spirituality (25 percent), a loving family (15 percent), and keeping a positive attitude (14 percent). Having a happy marriage or relationship (9 percent) also ranks higher than finances, as does taking care of one’s health (9 percent) and staying mentally and physically active (6 percent each).
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BLOG Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Writer: Ryan Allen