Age UK survey reveals gardening is the favourite pastime of over-65s

Research marking the launch of Age UK’s Living Your Way campaign has revealed that gardening, walking and reading the newspaper are the little pleasures that older people most enjoy in life.

The campaign aims to help older people have control over their lives and stay independent for as long as possible, something that independent-living aids such as tailor-made walk in showers and rise and recline chairs can help to achieve. Age UK can offer plenty of advice on entitlement to benefits, how to adapt your home and can provide home insurance, especially for those aged over 50 through the Living Your Way campaign, but they also take an interest in how satisfied older people are with life, something which they investigated in their most recent survey.

The survey, details of which can be found in the article on the Age UK website, investigated what pastimes Britain's older population are enjoying. Gardening turned out to be the most popular activity with 38% of people over the age of 65, followed close behind by going for walks at 28% of people and reading the newspaper with 25% of people. For people over the age of 85, activities that require less physical strength rose to the top, with listening to the radio being the favourite pastime with 29% of people. This was followed by "sharing wisdom with family and friends" at 28%, but many still enjoy getting outside and pottering around the garden, something which 26% of people over the age of 85 like to do.

Research such as this helps Age UK to understand what older people really enjoy in life, something that can help them tailor their Living Your Way campaign to help Britain's older citizens achieve what they really want to. It is clearly important to people that they have the tools in place to be able to do more active things and have somewhere comfortable to sit whilst reading the paper, something which independent-living aids can help people achieve. Home stairlifts can help those with stairs in their garden get out safely into the sunshine, and riser recliner chairs can offer both support and comfort for pastimes that people can enjoy in the living room; Age UK can provide advice on purchasing these things.

Whilst mobility aids can help with our basic home needs, they can also help older people to fully engage with their favourite activities and pastimes, fulfilling another important area of our overall life satisfaction.

Image Credit: Nomadic Lass (flickr.com)