Effort Mobilization and Healthy Aging

Healthy aging is in part dependent upon people’s willingness and ability to mobilize the effort necessary to support behaviors that promote health and well-being. People may have the best information relating to health along with the best intentions to stay healthy (e.g., health-related goals), but positive outcomes will ultimately be dependent upon them actually investing the necessary effort toward using this information to achieve their goals. In addition, the influences on effort mobilization may vary as a function of physical, psychological, and social changes experienced by the individual across the life span. Building on the overall theme of this special issue, we explore the relationships between motivation, effort mobilization, and healthy aging. We begin by characterizing the relationship between motivation and effort, and identify the factors that influence effort mobilization. We then consider the factors associated specifically with aging that may influence effort mobilization (e.g., changes in cardiovascular and neural mechanisms) and, ultimately, the health and well-being of older adults. Finally, distinguishing between those influential factors that are modifiable versus intractable, we identify ways to structure situations and beliefs to optimize mobilization in support of healthy aging.