JAPAN | Comfort and convenience matter in aged care, but so do opportunities for residents to move. For providers and retirement village operators, the challenge is to support everyday activity alongside the balance and strength work that helps older adults maintain function and prevent falls.
New research commissioned by ASICS puts the wider issue of inactivity in focus. Its global State of Mind study found that respondents reported spending 86 percent of their waking day not moving, based on an assumed 16-hour waking day.
Conducted in July 2026, the study surveyed 34,000 people across 31 markets. More than half of adults surveyed, 53 percent, reported failing to meet recommended physical activity guidelines, while 64 percent said modern convenience made it easy to spend an entire day barely moving.
New Zealand was not among the markets surveyed, and the release did not provide separate findings for older adults. The results nevertheless raise a relevant question for aged care: how much opportunity for movement remains when services, entertainment, and social contact can all be accessed without leaving a chair?
ASICS worked with Professor Brendon Stubbs to develop a Movement Conservation Status, drawing on internationally recognised physical activity guidelines. The framework classified self-reported weekly movement as active at 150 minutes or more, at risk at 30 to 149 minutes, and endangered at fewer than 30 minutes.
Almost one in four respondents, 23 percent, fell into the endangered category. These are classifications developed for the ASICS project, rather than clinical assessments of an individual’s mobility or falls risk.
The study also found an association between movement levels and mental state. Respondents in the endangered category recorded an average State of Mind score of 60 out of 100, compared with 71 among those classified as active. They reported feeling less energised, composed, and focused, and more stressed.
These findings do not establish that inactivity caused the differences. They do, however, extend the discussion beyond physical fitness to how people feel during their day.
“We’ve built a world that makes movement optional,” said David Raichlen, Professor of Biology and Anthropology at the University of Southern California.
“The findings are a reminder that movement isn’t an added extra; it’s fundamental to how we feel, think and function.”
For older adults, the type of activity also matters. World Health Organisation guidelines recommend varied activity emphasising functional balance and strength training at moderate or greater intensity on three or more days a week, to enhance functional capacity and prevent falls.
That gives providers two connected considerations: opportunities to move throughout the day, and appropriate activity that specifically supports strength and balance. A general invitation to be more active does not, by itself, address every resident’s mobility needs.
ASICS has released Human Nature, a short documentary narrated by Sigourney Weaver, ahead of World Mental Health Day. Taking the approach of a nature documentary, the film examines humans in modern habitats where sofas, screens, and convenience increasingly replace everyday movement.
The accompanying campaign encourages people to take “15 Minutes to Thrive”, drawing on ASICS research indicating that 15 minutes of movement can help improve mental state.
For aged care teams, the practical question is where movement fits between organised activities, meals, and care routines. Convenience will remain valuable, but providers have reason to examine whether daily life gives residents enough encouragement and opportunity to remain active in ways suited to their abilities.
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