Recent study results have shown that people who perceive themselves to be in poor health walk less than people who perceive themselves as fit and healthy.

James Talkowski and colleagues studied 2,269 seniors with an average age of 79.2 years to investigate whether perception of health and balance had any impact on activity levels. Results showed that participants who perceived their overall health and balance to be good walked further each week than participants who thought either their health or balance was good and the other was poor. Participants who perceived both their health and their balance to be poor walked the least.

“What was surprising to us was learning that health and balance perception were significantly related to walking activity – more so than fall history or balance performance,” said Talkowski in a news release issued by the American physical therapy association.

Talkowski JB, Brach JS, Studenski S, Newman AB. Impact of Health Perception, Balance Perception, Fall History, Balance Performance, and Gait Speed on Walking Activity in Older Adults. Phys Ther. 2008;88:1474-1481. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20080036

News release: Older patients' perception of health and balance has direct impact on walking activity, new study says. American physical therapy association. December 19th 2008.