Does supervised exercise improve psychological well-being and health status in elderly veterans?
Supervised exercise in elderly veterans provides small but significant improvements in psychological well-being and cardiovascular fitness.
This study examined the impact of supervised exercise on the health status (measured by the Sickness Impact Profile SIP) and well-being (measured by the Psychological General Well-Being Index PGWB) of a sample of 43 elderly veterans. The intervention consisted of 90 minutes of exercise, 3 days per week at 70% of maximal capacity. Twenty-three (53%) participants completed a 1-year follow-up. The mean PGWB score increased significantly from 83.0 +/- 15.8 to 89.4 +/- 8.9 (p = .01). Cardiovascular fitness (measured by treadmill performance) increased significantly (p = .004). Baseline SIP scores were low (little dysfunction) and changed little. The study suggests that small but significant improvements in well-being accompany physiological benefits that the elderly experience with exercise.
Cowper et al. (Sun,) studied this question.