Fit at older age

Topic details

The target group is citizens who are 65 years or older. The intervention will be implemented locally in Ueckermünde, Vorpommern-Greifswald, Germany. However, contributions from outside this region are also welcome, especially from senior citizens. Participants will be asked in a scientifically supervised kick-off meeting what goals they hope to achieve and by which target parameters these could be made verifiable. For six months, the participants visit an easily accessible cooperating fitness centre in the project region and document their training times and progress using an app. Through training partnerships and a training network, motivation and stamina are to be strengthened. This is particularly important as the project aims to reach people who have not yet had any contact with sporting activities in old age. The training programme is medically supported by the University Medical Centre Greifswald (UMG), the regional medical network HaffNet and digitally (e.g. smartwatches, fitness apps). By means of a scientifically monitored before-and-after examination, individual feedback on the state of health can be given both at the start of the project and after the six-month training period, and success can be measured on the basis of the defined target parameters.

The data will be analysed and evaluated by scientists from the UMG and then compared with the results of the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), which has been conducted in the same region for decades. Within the framework of the SHIP study, extensive information on the general state of health and fitness in the general population of the project region was recorded in a standardised manner. In a joint final workshop, the participants will exchange experiences and discuss information about their successes as a group, also in comparison to the group of people examined in the SHIP study. Furthermore, this meeting will be the starting point for planning the continuation of the network. The current participants are invited to engage themselves as future fitness guides for new comrades-in-arms.