Lifestyle, the most popular activities and concerns of citizens aged 65 and over.

Demographic statistics show that nowadays a proportion of seniors is increasingly growing in our population. Therefore it is very important to pay close attention to this group. The threshold age of sixty-five years is mainly associated with a longer retirement age. This turn occurs from day to day when a person has got a much more leisure time and must to cope with it in some way. I focused on the lifestyle, favourite activities and the greatest fear of people over 65 years in my diploma thesis. The thesis concentrates to an interconnection of the lifestyle with the health and the state of health of an individual. The research sample consisted of thirty respondents from the districts of Mladá Boleslav and České Budějovice. The respondents were approached by a random selection. Fifteen respondents, nine women and six men were from the district of Mladá Boleslav, ten women and five men were from the district of České Budějovice. There were established quota criteria - the age over 65, the residence in the district of Mladá Boleslav or in the district of České Budějovice and a willingness to take part anonymously in the research too. The research in the given areas took place in the months from December to March and in various environments: in libraries, shopping centres, traffic means (train, bus) as well as in streets of towns and villages. The results were processed in form of thirty case studies which were written in three areas: the identification, health and lifestyle and leisure time. Transparent tables were developed from the case studies. The interviews show that among the most favourite seniors´ activities belong reading of books, newspapers and magazines, watching TV and doing crossword puzzles. These three the most often and the most favourite activities were indicated both by respondents from the district of Mladá Boleslav and from the district of České Budějovice as well. The respondents´ greatest fear is of their health, it is followed by the fear of losing their children. These two concerns appeared on the top places at both of the groups of respondents. The third frequent fear was mentioned as a concern about the household in the district of Mladá Boleslav and the fear of the loneliness in the district of České Budějovice. Eleven of the thirty respondents said, that they have no fear (five in the district of Mladá Boleslav and six in the district of České Budějovice). The practical part also showed that cultural and social events are attended by nineteen from the thirty respondents, eleven of them do not take part in any events, most commonly for the reason of a poor state of their health or for the reason they do not want it at all. Eighteen respondents participate in sporting events, actively only four of them, twelve respondents do not attend any sporting events. None of them studies Academy or University of the Third Age and seems to be interested in studies. Only two seniors from the district of Mladá Boleslav are members of the seniors´ club. Differences in the lifestyle, favourite activities and the fears between the districts of Mladá Boleslav and České Budějovice are minimal. Following hypotheses can be drawn on the basis of the research, though it would be advisable to check them on a larger number of respondents. ?Seniors´ lifestyle is largely influenced by the state of health.? ?Especially the concern about the poor state of health belongs to the most frequent mentioned seniors´ fears? ?Mainly reading of books, watching TV and doing crossword puzzles belong to the most favourite seniors´ activities.? The diploma thesis could be used as a support of the healthy lifestyle and at the same time it could be used for an expansion or implementation of leisure-time activities for seniors from the districts of Mladá Boleslav and České Budějovice at the age group of people over 65