Opening words:

It is a great pleasure and honor to be here at the Lithuanian Sports University.

On behalf of The European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA) I welcome you to this great conference.

The topic of this symposium is “Climbing the ladder of life, active and fit” to tell you that additional years to life may not necessarily mean going down the ladder of life. It can mean going up…

A lot of work was invested on putting together this conference and I deeply thank the Lithuanian Sports University and the Lithuanian scientists council for their support. Specifically, I would like to thank Dr. vida Cesnaitiene for her huge effort in organizing this conference.

While the study of physical activity is an academic discipline, it is also a practical profession. This symposium will therefore include scientific and academic sessions as well as practical workshops

The European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA) is a non-profit, non-governmental association (NGO) which aims to promote research on physical activity and health in old age.

I invite you to join EGREPA.

Since 1994 EGREPA has a refereed journal – EURAPA. since 2015 EURAPA is published by BMC as open access journal. I invite you all to submit your research work to EURAPA.

I also take this opportunity to inform about our new thematic series on Physical Activity, Cognitive and Motor Performance and the Aging Brain.

I wish you all a pleasant fruitful symposium and I look forward to your joining EGREPA and to your submitting your research work to EURAPA.

So let’s start climbing the ladder of this symposium. Thank you.

Prof. Yael Netz

President of EGREPA

International Scientific-practical Symposium

In collaboration with the

European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity

“CLIMBING THE LADDER OF LIFE, ACTIVE AND FIT”

October 5-7th, 2017

Kaunas, Lithuania

While there is sufficient evidence to acknowledge the benefits of physical activity across the human lifespan, many questions regarding physical activity in old age remain unanswered. These questions encompass basic philosophical issues related to aging and/or movement, questions seeking to examine the underpinnings of movement, and specific questions related to unique aspects of physical activity and movement in advanced age.  

Examples of these questions are:  

Exercise and behavior – what is the cause and what is the effect? 

Physical activity in old age – a need or a challenge to human nature? 

What are the dose-response relationships between physical activity and health? 

What is the relationship between physical activity and chronic disease? 

How is physical activity related to brain and cognition? 

What are the key variables that should be investigated in the effort to maximize the anti-aging effects of exercise? 

What is the effect of specific physical activity programs such as yoga or Pilates on health and cognition in old age? 

What are the mediating mechanisms between physical activity, mobility, gait, and fall prevention? 

How can new technology be used for improving the relationship between physical activity, physical functioning, and psychological functioning? 

In order to answer the above questions and to enhance the value of research, there is a great need to promote young scholars in this area. It is vital to the growth and development of the scientific community. Participants of this symposium were young researchers – advanced students as well as post-docs. The young researchers presented their research and participated in the presentations of experienced researchers. 

While the study of physical activity is an academic discipline, it is also a practical profession. This symposium therefore included scientific and academic sessions as well as practical workshops. In this way we were able to encourage academicians as well as practitioners – physical activity teachers, physiotherapists, trainers and physicians – to participate in both the scientific sessions as well as the active/experimental sessions. 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS