The Potential Win-win Strategy for Healthy Aging and Environmental Protection: Environmental Volunteering

Purpose: To explore the physical activity level of community environmental volunteering (CEV) participants and the differences in physical functions and daily activity patterns between the older adults who engaged in intensive CEV (≥15 hours/week) and non-intensive CEV (<15 hours/week) groups. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Three recycling stations in Taiwan. Sample: In total, 113 community-dwelling older adults who regularly participated in CEV. The response rate was 53%. Measures: The ActiGraph wGT3x-BT accelerometer for the percentage of sedentary, light, and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) of CEV time and awaken time; the Jamar hand dynamometer for grip strength; and the MicroFET3 muscle testing dynamometer for knee extension strength. Analysis: Analysis of covariance with the baseline characteristics as covariates. Results: Overall, MVPA, light, and sedentary activities accounted for 53.73%, 41.10%, and 5.23% of CEV time, respectively. The intensive group (n = 61) displayed greater dominant handgrip strength (P =.004) and higher MVPA percentage in daily life (P =.044) than the non-intensive group (n = 52). Conclusion: CEV provides sufficient opportunities for older adults to perform physical activity. Intensive CEV is related to greater handgrip strength but not lower limb strength. Further study is needed to establish the causal relationship between CEV and health variates.