Normally associated almost exclusively with the younger generation, video games are now becoming an increasingly popular past time for those aged over 50, according to a new survey conducted by SAGA. They found that one in 25 over 50′s are using the Nintendo WII as a means of keeping fit. Even those that have been retired for sometime are partaking in a game or two, with one in fifty over 75′s reporting that they also use the console. It seems awareness of the need to keep fit is also more prevalent in the over 50′s as the poll showed that 80% were more conscious of the need to keep fit now, than they were in their 30′s.
Ros Altmann, Director-General at SAGA says that…”…It’s really beginning to dawn on the older generations that the retirement age is not a countdown to the nursing home, but the start of the ‘bonus years’. To make the most of the opportunities in work and play, they need to have a decent standard of fitness – so more older people are spending more time exercising.”
And it is not just keeping fit that attracts over 50′s to video games as according to a number of respondents they decided to do more exercise in order to improve their sex lives. A survey earlier this year found that people in their 50′s rate sex as a more popular past time compared to those in their thirties who rated going to the gym and watching television as more preferential.
