Editorial—aging and physical activity in the focus of science

Abstract

The worldwide increase in life expectancy and particularly the increase in centenarians in our societies are the characteristics of a situation of which there is no parallel in human history. But this aging of our populations does not mean a catastrophe at all—as is sometimes thought. It is the logical consequence of our socio-cultural success story in the last centuries. This development poses many questions and many challenges for our societies. Adequate rational answers and solutions to these questions coming up in such a situation must and can be found. These answers and solutions must be rationally and empirically supported—this is the primary challenge for researchers in our field. The wide field of gerontology, of which aging and physical activity are an important part, distinguishes itself by interdisciplinarity. From the point of view of aging and physical activity, three perspectives are central: The biomedical one, the behavioral/social one, and the technological one. The biomedical perspective should focus on basic research. It should integrate new results from basic research to support ways of solutions for pressing age-dependent limitations or diseases and for the improvement of interventions. Despite the great achievements that the biomedical and technological sciences have to their credit, the main point must be the human behavior and the behavioral change that must not be delayed any longer. By our behavior and behavioral change, we can influence the key elements of an autonomous and successful aging—immediately and directly. New solutions should also come from technologically oriented basic and applied research (bionics, robotics, prosthetics, and ergonomic aids) to compensate age-related limitations and deficits—but technology should only be used if absolutely unavoidable. These three paths of research have to be combined to arrive at a successful gerontological support for the individual and the society. Behavior and behavioral change in the form of physical activity, nutrition, and social activity are closely related to the health situation in our societies. In view of the socio-demographic development, it is necessary that for preventive and therapeutical reasons, adequate behavior and behavioral changes should be implemented from childhood to old age. We need to know which environmental and behavioral conditions have a detrimental effect in the course of aging and which behavior will have a positive influence on the development of good health and successful aging. To show the protective influence that physical activity, nutrition, and social activity have on healthy aging, it is necessary that these variables should be considered from the point of view of genetics (cf. Sagiv’s preceding editorial [1]), individual behavior, as well as the social and material environment. The responsibility of the European Review of Aging and Physical Activity lies in offering topical information on the state of the art in each of these fields. From the behavioral point of view and from the point of view of the coeditor for behavioral sciences, this is a plea for more scientific and tutorial reviews on the relationship between physical activities and different disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary subjects. These reviews would enable researchers and practitioners to put their future activities on a firm foundation. They should even go beyond those subjects Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2007) 4:1–2 DOI 10.1007/s11556-007-0017-y