But researchers at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign who study the effects of exercise on aging point to new
findings that may inspire people to get up, get out and get moving on a regular
basis. The research team, led by kinesiology professor Edward McAuley, found
that previously sedentary seniors who incorporated exercise into their
lifestyles not only improved physical function, but experienced psychological
benefits as well.
"The implications of our work are that not only will physical
activity potentially add years to your life as we age, but the quality of those
years is likely to be improved by regular physical activity," McAuley said.
Results of the study appear in an article titled "Physical
Activity Enhances Long-Term Quality of Life in Older Adults: Efficacy, Esteem
and Affective Influences," published in the current issue of the Annals of
Behavioral Medicine. Co-authors with McAuley on the report are UI kinesiology
professor Robert W. Motl; psychology professor Ed Diener; and current and former
graduate students Steriani Elavsky, Liang Hu, Gerald J. Jerome, James F.
Konopack and David X. Marquez.
The UI research indicated positive psychosocial and cognitive
outcomes -- in effect, significant quality-of-life gains -- among participants
who remained physically active long after they began an initial randomized,
six-month exercise trial consisting of walking and stretching/toning exercises.
Results were gleaned from a battery of surveys and assessments administered at
one- and five-year intervals following the initial exercise regimen.
McCauley said the study -- which assessed physical activity
levels, quality of life, physical self-esteem, self-efficacy and affect in a
large sample (174) of adults over age 65 -- is believed to be the only one to
date to examine the relationship between physical activity and quality of life
over such a long time. "Self-efficacy," McAuley noted, can be defined as "the
belief, or self-confidence, in one's capacity to successfully carry out a task";
while "affect" refers to reported levels of happiness or contentment.
The researchers found that participants who continued to be
physically active a year after baseline responses were recorded -- through
engagement in leisure, occupational or home activities, such as house-cleaning
or gardening -- were "fitter, had higher levels of self-efficacy and physical
self-esteem, expressed more positive affect and reported, in turn, a better
quality of life."
Increased physical activity over time, as indicated by results
of the five-year follow-up, "was associated with greater improvements in
self-esteem and affect. Enhanced affect was, in turn, associated with increases
in satisfaction with life over time," the researchers noted.
"Our findings are important on several fronts," McAuley said.
"First, we demonstrated that physical activity has long-term effects on
important aspects of psychosocial functioning through its influences on
self-efficacy, quality of life and self-esteem."
"Second, there is a growing interest in the relationship between
physical activity and quality of life, especially in older adults. However, much
of this work suggests a direct relationship between the two. Our work takes the
approach, and the data support it, that physical activity influences more global
aspects of quality of life through its influence on more proximal physical and
psychological factors such as affect, self-efficacy and health status."
A related, two-year study conducted in McAuley's lab looked at
the roles played by physical activity, health status and self-efficacy in
determining "global quality of life," or satisfaction with life among older
adults. The research focused on a different sample of 249 older black and white
women. Results of that study will be published in an article titled "Physical
Activity and Quality of Life in Older Adults: Influence of Health Status and
Self-Efficacy" in a forthcoming edition of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
In that study, the researchers tested three potentially
competing models of the physical activity/quality-of-life relationship and
ultimately concluded that their findings "offer a strong theoretical foundation
for understanding physical activity and quality-of-life relationships in older
adults."
McAuley said the study's results confirm earlier findings by
other researchers suggesting "changes in levels of functioning in older adults
with chronic conditions were not predicted simply by health status or disease
state, but also by physical activity and self-efficacy."
In other words, he said, there is a tendency among adults with
lower self-expectations of their physical abilities to give up -- to reduce the
number of activities they engage in as well as the degree of effort they expend
toward that end.
"These reductions, in turn, provide fewer opportunities to
experience successful, efficacy-enhancing behaviors leading to further
reductions in efficacy," McAuley said. "Our data would suggest that such
declines are likely to lead to subsequent reductions in health status and,
ultimately, quality of life."
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Co-authors of the study with McAuley are Motl; kinesiology and
psychology professor Karl R. Rosengren; and graduate students Konopack, Shawna
E. Doerksen and Katherine S. Morris.
The research was funded by grants from the National Institute on
Aging.
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found
here.
