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Elderly exercise more than younger counterparts: study

Elderly Taiwanese exercise more often than their younger counterparts, with one-out-of-four senior citizens regularly participating in sports activities, according to a researcher of the National Health Research Institute.

Wen Chi-pang (溫啟邦) said 50 percent of Taiwanese interviewed for a survey that began in 2001 admitted that they do not like to exercise.

Wen said 75 percent of the population does not get sufficient exercise, if those who burn less than 500 calories through exercise per week are added to the 50 percent of people who take no exercise at all.

"Those who think they get physical exercise are not necessarily burning enough calories,"he said.

The survey results show that only one-seventh of the males and one-tenth of the females surveyed burn more than 750 calories per week during exercise, which is the median amount suggested by the US Center for Disease and Prevention.

The group that gets the least amount of exercise is comprised of nearly 8 million young adults with college educations and high incomes, Wen said.

To reach the standard for calories burned, Wen suggested that people do sports such as cycling, fast walking or hiking.
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