Digital Support Activates Young Elderly to Health--Enhancing Physical Activity

There is consensus in health studies that regular physical activity contributes to better health in both the short and long term. In the ongoing DigitalWells research program, we focus on getting young elderly, the 60-75 years age group, to adopt physical activity as part of their daily routines. Growing evidence shows that running viable and effective combinations of regular physical activity forms are health-enhancing if they are exercised long enough and with sufficient intensity. We developed and implemented a digital support platform to guide young elderly towards health-enhancing physical activity and searched for drivers that could get both the platform and health-enhancing physical activity programs accepted and adopted for sustained use. In this paper we work out the design and functions of the platform and explore ways to combine technology- and psychology-based drivers to get physical activity adopted as daily routine and digital support technology accepted among young elderly.