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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
Senior Citizens Gain Health, Independence, Balance
with Exercise
Goal of study is prevention - keeping people out
of nursing homes
 November 22, 2006 - On your mark, get set, go!
Senior citizens who acquaint themselves with that well-known mantra may
live more independent lives, according to new research. "Exercise is one
way of having a huge impact on our aging population," says lead
researcher Abby King.
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Senior Citizen Fitness & Exercise |
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A study, which appears in the November issue of
Journal of Gerontology, is the first to show that physical activity can
improve a person's score on a standardized test of physical mobility,
said Stanford University School of Medicine professor King, PhD.
She and other Stanford researchers took part in the
multi-center study demonstrating that elderly people who increase their
levels of regular exercise perform better on a test measuring balance,
walking speed and ability to rise from a chair.
Researchers at the University of Florida and the
National Institute of Aging coordinated the work. The Stanford team, led
by King, professor of health research and policy and of medicine at the
Stanford Prevention Research Center, played a key role in recruiting and
working with 100 study participants in the Bay Area. The research was a
preliminary study, and the next step is to conduct a full-scale,
long-term trial on the benefits of exercise in the elderly.
"We are encouraged by these results, which
demonstrate that a well-designed program combining aerobic, strength,
balance and flexibility exercises can make a difference for those who
are at high risk of losing mobility function," said Jack Guralnik, MD,
PhD, a co-leader of the study from the National Institute of Aging.
King said the study's goal was to determine whether
regular exercise could keep people healthier and more independent as
they age..
Previous work suggested that performance on the
fitness test is predictive of future health problems. According to King,
earlier research had shown that seniors with lower scores die earlier
and are also more likely to end up in assisted-care facilities. "The
goal of this study is prevention - keeping people out of nursing homes,"
said King.
Researchers at Stanford and other sites recruited
424 participants aged 70 to 89. Participants lived independently, but
they were at risk of developing an age-related disability, said King.
The study leaders randomly divided participants
into two groups. Half the seniors spent approximately two and a half
hours a week walking at a moderate pace. They also strengthened and
stretched their leg muscles. The second group of seniors received
education on healthy living, including advice on nutrition, medication
and foot care. The study followed participants for just over a year.
The people who exercised regularly performed better
on the standardized fitness test than people who received health
education, and they were better able to walk a quarter of a mile. The
fitness test is scored on a scale of one to 12, and the people who
exercised improved their scores by one point on average, which is
considered substantial. They were also less likely to suffer from an
age-related disability that hampered their movement.
The study's findings held for men and women as well
as for people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Indeed, as
people age, they share a common concern. "When you ask seniors what they
are most afraid of they often don't put cancer or other specific
age-related diseases at the top of the list," said King. "They say loss
of independence."
Editor's Notes:
The study was conducted at three centers in
addition to Stanford - the Cooper Institute in Dallas, the University of
Pittsburgh and Wake Forest University - and was funded by the National
Institute on Aging. The University of Florida was the coordinating
center, and Wake Forest was the data management, analysis and quality
control center. Investigators from Tufts University, Yale University, UC-San
Diego, UCLA and the National Institute on Aging also contributed to the
study.
Stanford University Medical Center integrates
research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions -
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information,
please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of
Communication & Public Affairs at
http://mednews.stanford.edu.
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