Researchers studying the joy seniors get out of physical activities such as pickleball were in Victoria last month watching residents from a local seniors’ community at play.
Rebecca Lloyd from the University of Ottawa and Stephen Smith of Simon Fraser University shadowed residents of Tapestry at Victoria Harbour while they played pickleball, went kayaking and participated in a cooking demonstration,
“They wanted to see what got people out of bed in the morning to get to fitness class,” said Amber Reis, Tapestry’s general manager.
The goal of the research project is to create resources that help promote staying active for life, said Lloyd, a qualitative researcher. Those resources could be used by medical professionals and educators, she said.
Lloyd said physical activity is usually encouraged with messaging that stokes fear, like telling people to get active to avoid disease. She wants to shift the message to finding joy in movement.
“I invite people to pay attention and to get curious about what they’re feeling in the moment, and so that the joy that I’m researching is the joy in the action and the interaction,” she said.
Tapestry, the only participating seniors’ community in Canada, was chosen for the research because it has consistently topped an awards program recognizing the “best in wellness” through the International Council on Active Aging, said Colin Milner, CEO and founder of the council.
The council partnered with the researchers to connect them with three communities for older adults.
“There’s so much stuff that can detract from your ability to find joy in life today that it becomes harder, and our goal is to help people to recognize the moments that can bring them joy, so that they can then take those and do more of them,” he said.
Reis said Tapestry, located on Belleville Street, is a condo community for adults over 65 who can live independently and want to enjoy an active lifestyle. A restaurant, pub and a wellness centre offering an array of activities help residents cultivate “rich, full, meaningful lives at any age,” she said.
“It’s a proactive approach to aging, just a different model, compared to sort of the traditional retirement or long-term care model of Victoria and abroad.”
Brenda Colbourne, a Tapestry resident and a member of an advisory board for the project, said results could encourage people of all ages to adopt active lifestyles.
“It has to start way back when they’re children. So physical activity becomes an integral part of people’s lives, and they see the end result as being so positive and quite life-changing.”
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