Video workouts from home sharpened the minds of older adults in South Korea

At two public health centres in South Korea, 140 older adults with early cognitive difficulties — average age 75 — joined a six-month experiment in staying sharp from home. Half received exercise sessions by videoconference plus nutritional support; half received usual health promotion services. When researchers from the University of Ulsan College of Medicine tested everyone, the home-programme group had improved by 2.3 points more on a standard cognitive test, and they were also doing better on functional independence and frailty — with no programme-related harms reported. A year later, a smaller advantage remained. For families far from a clinic, the finding matters: help that arrives through a screen still helps.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program