There are plenty of good reasons to stay active as you age, and volunteering is a great way to do that.

Researchers tracked more than 1,000 men and women in their 70s for three years — all of whom were reasonably high functioning at the start. Twenty-eight percent of these seniors did volunteer work, 25 percent had child-care duties, and 19 percent had jobs. There was quite a bit of overlap as some seniors did more than one of those activities, while 45 percent of them did none of those things.

After three years, the researchers found that working and child-care didn’t prevent against becoming frail, while those who volunteered seemed to be less frail.

Now, I’m all for volunteering – just don’t do it based on the results of this study.

For starters, it was an observational study, which is just about the weakest form of research. These studies are sometimes useful for spotting trends, or even finding areas worthy of more research – but they’re not especially good at determining cause and effect, as the researchers involved in this project readily admit.

But what really weakens the study is this: The researchers said their results could have been different simply by tweaking the definition of “frail.” They also said their study indicates that everything from religion to “a strong sense of personal mastery” may play a role in avoiding frailty.

In other words, they’re not really sure what the connection is, how strong it is, or even what it means to be “frail.”

Let’s just leave it at this: Whether or not volunteering prevents you from withering away, it’s still a great way to stay active and engaged, which can help you live better. Last year, a study even found that seniors who volunteer may live longer – and that sounds like a pretty good reason to me.