Introduction: Older adults face significant changes in the physical functioning of the body and increased morbidity, which can prevent them from starting or continuing with their physical activity. Physical activity cannot stop the aging process, but it can slow down the physiological processes of aging. Whether an individual will start and finish a certain activity depends on motivation. Older adults start losing their motivation, so researchers of human behaviour are trying to discover the motivators that would encourage people to increase their physical activity. Purpose: The purpose is to determine motivators and barriers to physical activity among older adults based on a literature review of foreign and Slovenian professional and scientific literature. Methods: The descriptive research method was used and foreign and domestic scientific literature was reviewed. A critical review of scientific writings served as a basis for the analysis. Scientific writings were systematically reviewed using PubMed. The individual or combined keywords used for the literature search were: older adults, physical activity, motivation, barriers, facilitators, physiotherapy. Results: Eight studies, which focused primarily on motivation and barriers to physical activity in older adults, were included in the survey. The most common motivator is preservation of physical and mental health, while the biggest barrier is poor health or pain. Discussion and conclusion: In order to encourage older people to be physically active, it is most important to provide easy access to training programmes, to strengthen motivators, and to reduce barriers.
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