Reading, friends and getting out the door: the quiet habits that slow frailty

Healthy ageing advice usually starts at the gym. A study of 12,862 Australians aged 70 and over, followed for 11 years, suggests the list is longer — and kinder. Researchers with the ASPREE longitudinal study grouped everyday pastimes into seven kinds, from reading and letter-writing to group outings and friendships, and measured how frailty crept up over time. Nearly every kind of regular social and mental engagement was linked to slower frailty and a 2% to 5% lower risk of becoming frail — with reading, music and other quiet pleasures among the strongest signals of all. The gym still matters. But so, it turns out, does the book club.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being