What Motivates Us to Exercise as We Get Older?

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There is little doubt that many of our physiological systems decline with age. We get more aches and pains, we may need glasses to read, and we forget more things. (Where did I leave my glasses anyway?) The list of systems that decline has been chronicled extensively.

The tendency to exercise is another area that declines with age. It is well documented that older adults do not get as much physical activity as younger people. The latest estimate (2022) of older adults who meet the exercise guidelines for cardiorespiratory exercise and strength training is only 13.9 percent.

Exercise, Dopamine, and the Aging Brain

Research tells us that our aging brains can have a lot to do with how we perceive exercise.

Lee and Kim (2022) explain that dopamine and norepinephrine are two important neurotransmitters associated with aging. According to PET scans of aged brains, dopamine synthesis is reduced in the striatum and parastriatal regions, and dopamine receptors are also decreased. Many behaviors are potentially affected by this shift, including cognitive control, emotion and mood, motor function, positive reward, and motivation.

How does this decline affect our attitude toward physical activity, our perceived pleasure from it, and the likelihood that we will continue to seek movement in our lives?

Ferdinand and Czernochowski (2018) note that mastering a performance requires more cognitive effort as we get older. Dopamine’s effect on our cognitive effort is complex. It is associated with many brain regions (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, frontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and medial and lateral thalamus).

Dopamine depletion also means that perception of reward/pleasure can be blunted, so the entire experience of participating in physical activity can become altered.

Linking Exercise to Pleasure

Trying to pin down specific ways to increase motivation to exercise in older adults has been difficult. The effects of brain changes on motivation can be highly individual. What may work for one may not work for another.

An answer may lie with discerning what makes us happy as we age. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) suggests that people’s motivation shifts from future-oriented to present-oriented. One study (2019) discovered that, in terms of exercise, older adults preferred to work out with others while younger people preferred to exercise alone.

This research concluded that focusing on meaningful relationships could be instrumental in creating sustained exercise behaviors.

It is impossible to separate cognitive function from our emotions and affect. Stimulating reward and pleasure has a direct effect on cognitive function. Even though exercise performance requires more cognitive effort as we get older, a relational environment can result in a pleasurable experience that creates the motivation to continue.