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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1530895
This article is part of the Research Topic The Role of Physical Activity in Healthy Aging: Mechanisms and Interventions View all 6 articles

Social activities and different intensities of physical activity among older adults in China: a population-based cohort study

Provisionally accepted
Song Yang Song Yang 1Qi Zhang Qi Zhang 1DONGYE LYU DONGYE LYU 2*
  • 1 Henan Sport University, Zhengzhou, China
  • 2 the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Physical activity is widely recognized as a critical factor for improving health, yet the specific impact of different intensities of physical activity on the health of older adults remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by analyzing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). The results demonstrate that physical activity at all intensity levels-high, moderate, and low-significantly improves the health of older adults, with correlation coefficients of -0.245 (p < 0.01), -0.080 (p < 0.05), and -0.077 (p < 0.10), respectively. Among these, high-intensity physical activity is the most effective in enhancing health outcomes. The study further identifies social activities as a mediating factor in this relationship, with proportion of intermediary effect of 15.51% and 11.56%, respectively. The findings highlight the importance of high-intensity physical activity, while moderate-and low-intensity activities are beneficial to older adults. In addition, social engagement acts as a key mechanism that amplifies the positive effects of physical activity. This suggests that interventions promoting both physical activity and social interaction can be particularly effective in improving the health and well-being of the ageing population.

    Keywords: physical activity, Population ageing, social activities, Sport, Chinese older adults

    Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Zhang and LYU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: DONGYE LYU, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China

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