Starting an exercise regimen with others can be a powerful fitness motivator, and new research spotlights the strategy’s particular importance for older adults.
In a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Network Open, older adults who talked with peers about their exercise program were able to increase and sustain physical activity levels much better than those who focused on self-motivation and setting fitness goals.
Such self-focused — or “intrapersonal” — strategies tend to be more common in health and fitness than interactive, or “interpersonal,” ones, the study authors noted. Yet, research on their effectiveness is limited.
“We’re not saying that intrapersonal strategies should not be used,” said study author Siobhan McMahon, PhD, associate professor and codirector of the Center on Aging Science and Care at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “but this study shows that interpersonal strategies are really important.”
Low physical activity among older adults is linked with “disability, difficulty managing chronic conditions, and increased falls and related injuries,” the authors wrote. Exercise can be the antidote, yet fewer than 16% of older adults meet the recommended guidelines (150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity and two muscle-strengthening sessions per week).
The study builds on previous research that suggests interpersonal strategies could help change that by encouraging more older adults to move.
Intrapersonal vs Interpersonal Behavior Change Strategies
More than 300 participants aged 70 years and older who did not meet physical activity guidelines were given a wearable fitness tracker and an exercise program and randomly split into four groups:
- One using intrapersonal behavior change strategies
- Another using interpersonal strategies
- A group combining both intrapersonal and interpersonal strategies
- A control group that received neither intervention
For 8 weeks, all participants exercised in meet-ups and discussed their progress in their groups. Afterward, they were left to their own devices and monitored for the remainder of the year.
“The intrapersonal strategies group involved personal reflection,” said Dr. McMahon. They set personal goals (increasing daily step count or exercise repetitions) and developed action plans for implementing physical activity into their daily routines.
“The interpersonal group involved more peer-to-peer conversation, collaborative learning, and sharing,” said Dr. McMahon. Participants talked among themselves about how they could sustain doing the prescribed exercises at home. “Through those conversations, they learned and experimented,” Dr. McMahon said. They problem-solved, determining what barriers might stop them from exercising and brainstorming ways around them.
The researchers evaluated the participants after 1 week, 6 months, and 12 months. The interpersonal group exhibited significant increases in physical activity — including light, moderate, and vigorous activity — for the entire year. They increased their average physical activity per day by 21-28 minutes and their daily step count by 776-1058.
The intrapersonal group, meanwhile, exhibited no significant changes in total physical activity. (The third experimental group, the intrapersonal plus interpersonal condition, had results similar to the interpersonal one.)
The results echoed the findings of a similar study Dr. McMahon conducted in 2017. “We followed people over a longer period of time in this [new] study,” she said, “12 months instead of 6 months. This is important in physical activity studies because a lot of evidence shows that after 6 months, people’s activity drops off.”