Wellness
Wellness is a broad factor relating to aging adult quality of life and examines overall physical and mental well-being; nutrition practices and physical activity, including associated barriers to making healthy choices in these areas; and quality of life across all stages.
Indicators:
The most commonly cited barriers to physical activity include disability or pain, and lack of time. When we look at the data by race and income we see that African Americans and low-income aging adults are also citingnot knowing where to go, lack of money, and lack of transportation as additional barriers.
What do you think could be done to help improve physical activity levels for aging adults that experience pain or have health issues that make physical activity challenging?
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- address issues of access, motivation, and fear of going out, which proved to be concerns limiting physical activity
- provide more community programming
- expand number of walking groups
- encourage at-home exercising
- develop more senior exercise centers
- improve community walkability
Generally, aging adults are not consuming the recommended 5 or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
What are some challenges to eating healthy, and how can we as a County overcome these challenges?
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- access is an issue
- transportation
- food deserts
- cost is an issue
- not convenient to cook healthy
- many are cooking for one
- education surrounding nutrition is needed
- community programs needed
- community gardens
- grocery delivery services
- access is an issue
When we look at the data by age and income, we see that adults aged 60-64 and low-income aging adults have higher negative perception of their emotional and mental health compared to other age groups, and income groups, respectively.
14% of adults aged 60 and older thought they needed the help of a counselor or health professional because they felt depressed or anxious in the past year. The following visualization depicts the percentage of aging adults that obtained the counseling or professional help they thought they needed.
