American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine

Abstract: Biomedical advances and the practice of preventive health behav-iors have resulted in an unprecedented growth in the older population of the United States, a trend projected to con-tinue during the next several decades. However, the addition of years to life is no guarantee that those years will be quality years. There is growing evi-dence to suggest that physical activity is a behavioral modality that is con sistently associated with quality of life outcomes. However, there are numerous concep-tual, theoretical, and defi nitional ambi-guities associated with this literature. In this review, we examine the literature on physical activity and quality of life in older adults. Specifi cally, attention is given to the conceptualization of quality of life in the medical and psychologi-cal disciplines and how these differen-tial viewpoints infl uence the outcomes measured and the nature of the rela-tionships reported. We also address the question of whether a dose-response rela-tionship exists between these constructs, as well as the extent to which physical acti vity is associated with important aspects of cognitive, physical, and psy-chosocial function. Finally, we propose a multidimensional model for examining the potential mediating and moderat ing factors in the physical activity and quality-of-life relationship and discuss the prac-tical implications that such a model has for practitioners