The strongest message from the research was the importance of
maintaining meaningful engagement with the world around you in later life ' whether this is through social, creative or physical activity, work, or belonging to some form of community group. Taken together, these types of participation contribute more than a fifth of wellbeing, as defined in AGE UK's Index.
Even more striking was the finding that creative and cultural participation was the single factor that contributed the most out of all 40 of the factors to significantly contribute to wellbeing.