By Julie E 
Photo Credit (Pixabay)
Compared to those of the same age thirty years ago, the functional ability of older adults currently is better. The University of Jyväskylä in Finland found this in their study of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. The study compared the cognitive and physical abilities of individuals in their seventies and eighties with those of adults in the same age bracket in the nineties.
“Performance-based measurements describe how older people manage in their daily lives, and at the same time, the measurements reflect one’s functional age,” says Professor Taina Rantanen, the leader of the study.
Men and women in their seventies and eighties have much greater motor skills, response times, reasoning, working memory, linguistic fluency, and strength than their earlier-born counterparts did at the same age. On the other hand, there were no discernible variations in lung function testing across the groups.
According to doctorate student Kaisa Koivunen, “the most important underlying factor behind the cohort differences in cognitive performance was longer education.” As for the later-born cohort’s better walking speed and muscle strength, she argues that it is explained by more physical activity and larger bodies.
According to postdoctoral researcher Matti Munukka, younger generations have experienced a distinct world compared to their parents’ generation, which was born thirty years ago. Numerous positive shifts have taken place. These encompass enhanced personal cleanliness and nutrition, better medical treatment, more accessible educational opportunities, and a more pleasant work environment.
This study’s findings provide more evidence that longer life expectancy is associated with higher rates of strong functional capacity in old age. Possible explanations for the finding include a larger lifetime maximum in physical performance, a slower rate-of-change with advancing age, or both.
“This research is unique because there are only a few studies in the world that have compared performance-based maximum measures between people of the same age in different historical times,” says Rantanen, describing the study’s methodology.
Here we see two elderly women enjoying a soothing cup of tea.
This study’s findings provide more evidence that longer life expectancy is associated with higher rates of strong functional capacity in old age.
The findings cast doubt on our conventional wisdom about aging. According to studies on the effects of aging, the middle years get the most additional years, while the later years do not see nearly as much growth. While longer life expectancy means more years without physical limitations, it also means that people are living longer and needing more medical attention in their latter years. Two changes are occurring at once in the population as a whole as it ages: first, the number of healthy years lived into later age, and second, the number of extremely old people requiring outside care.
The research took place at the University of Jyväskylä’s Gerontology Research Center and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences in Finland.
Five hundred people born in 1910 and 1914 made up the initial cohort, whose data was gathered in 1989 and 1990. The second set of statistics, covering the years 2017 and 2018, included 726 individuals who were born in 1938, 1939, 1942, or 1943.
Participants in both groups were evaluated when they were either 75 or 80 years old. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency was used to recruit the participants.
The European Research Council and the Academy of Finland provided financial support for the study.
A study comparing the maximal physical performance of men and women born 28 years apart at 75 and 80 years of age
Background
It is not known whether, at certain ages, older adults experience an increase in functional capacity along with an increase in life expectancy. Two elder cohorts from the same population, one born and evaluated 28 years apart, were compared using validated measures of maximal physical performance.
Methods
There were 500 people in the first cohort (with a participation rate of 77%) who were born in 1910 or 1914 and evaluated when they were 75 or 80 years old, respectively. Participants in the second group were evaluated at the ages of 75 and 80, respectively, and were born in 1938 or 1939 and 1942 or 1943 (N = 726; participation rate 40%). Everyone living in the designated area was eligible to participate, as the study used a population registry to recruit participants. Using the same techniques, both groups were interviewed at home and then evaluated at the study facility. Measurements of lung function, including maximum isometric grip and knee extension strength, maximal walking speed, forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), were taken. Systematically, data on non-participation was gathered.
Final Product
On average, the later cohort walked 0.2–0.4 m/s quicker than the earlier cohort. Strength gains ranged from 20 to 47 percent in knee extension and 5 to 25 percent in grip. Improvements ranged from 0 to 14% in FEV1 and 14 to 21% in FVC.
Last thoughts
Results from the maximal functional capacity tests were significantly higher in the subsequent cohort, indicating that persons in Finland who are 75 and 80 years old now have superior physical functioning and are living longer.