Leisure and Aging: The Effect of Physical Activity on Health and Life Satisfaction Among Older Adults in a Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND: Korea experiences rapid aging among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This population faces challenges, such as physical and mental health issues. Physical activity promotes successful aging, yet longitudinal evidence examining its causal effects on health and life satisfaction among them remains unexplored. METHODS: Longitudinal data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging were examined, using 43,234 observations from 2006 to 2020. The analysis employs fixed-effects models to assess the long-term causal impact of regular exercise and exercise frequency on health and life satisfaction. RESULTS: Regular exercise participation leads to a 2.59 point increase in self-assessed health (P < .1), with a relatively larger effect observed among males compared to females. Exercise frequency positively affects health satisfaction with coefficients of 0.41 (P < .01) overall, 0.50 (P < .01) for males, and 0.33 (P < .01) for females. For life satisfaction, regular exercise shows positive effects with coefficients of 2.25 (P < .01) for the full sample, 2.28 (P < .01) for males, and 2.20 (P < .01) for females. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of a long-term impact between regular exercise, exercise frequency, and health and life satisfaction among older adults in Korea. Findings emphasize the importance of physical activity programs and the role of public health policies in encouraging active lifestyles to support healthy aging.