How to increase your life expectancy.
Hobbies offer better mental well-being in people over 65, according to a study published in the journal "Nature Medicine". The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of five studies, which looked at the leisure activities of 93,263 people over the age of 65 in 16 countries, including the US, China, Japan and several European countries.
Previous studies
Previous studies have shown that activities people engage in during their free time reduce loneliness and protect against depressive symptoms. However, they focused on one country only. This particular study geographically covers 16 countries on three continents. The average age of the participants was between 71.7 and 75.9 years.
What do hobbies offer?
The researchers found that engaging in a hobby was associated with better self-reported health, greater life satisfaction, higher levels of happiness, and fewer depressive symptoms than not engaging in a hobby. The results were the same even after controlling for other factors, such as marital status, employment and household income.
More hobbies, longer life expectancy
Countries with high global happiness and life expectancy scores, such as Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, also had high hobby engagement with more than 90% of survey participants having an activity. Overall, however, the association between hobby engagement and mental well-being was relatively universal across countries, the authors note.
The researchers emphasize that their results are based on observations and do not prove causation. However, they believe that their findings could contribute to the development of programs to improve access to hobbies across all ages and countries to enhance the healthy aging experiences and mental well-being of older adults.
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