A Mild-Exercise Support Program and Its Affect on Physical Strength and Metabolic Improvement in the Elderly

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the effectiveness of a support program that involved sessions of mild exercise that lasted for approximately 90 minutes practiced over a period of 3 months by 26 healthy elderly men and women (66.8 ± 4.3 years of age) who had never had guidance on health-promoting exercise. Before and after the program, the subjects underwent examinations to assess the effects on their physical strength, blood, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, and oxidative stress. We also studied the effects of the continuation of physical training in 8 men and women (67.6 ± 4.7 years of age) who participated in a similar exercise program for an additional 12 months (15 months in total). The 3-month physical training improved the leg strength (measured as the consecutive number of steps made up onto and then back down from a footstool in 30 seconds) (p < 0.01), and significantly lowered the serum malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein (MDL-LDL) levels (p < 0.01). In the 8 subjects who continued the additional 12 months of training, the increased leg strength was retained throughout the 15-months (p < 0.05), and the time required to walk 400 m was significantly shortened from 279 ± 14 to 255 ± 24 seconds (p < 0.05). Among the blood biochemistry parameters tested, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) showed an 11% increase from 62.8 ± 14.7 to 69.4 ± 13.0 mg/dl (p < 0.05). In addition, the plasma hydro peroxide concentration (derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites [d-roms]) was decreased by 28% from 394 ± 52 to 284 ± 32 U.Carr (p < 0.01), showing a marked decrease in oxidative stress from a moderate level to a normal level. These results suggest that, when continued long term, even a mild exercise program that is easily implementable by elderly people can produce noticeable measures of better health, particularly with respect to walking ability and oxidative stress.