Effectiveness of Exercise Intervention on Health Promotion for Elderly with Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two exercise intervention modes, including structure and lifestyle modes on the senior citizens. Fifty-one females above 60 years old, with risk factors of metabolic syndrome (MS) were considered as subjects for this study. Prior to the experiment, subjects were divided into structural (SG) and lifestyle (LG) intervention groups. The SG consisted of 24 participants undertaking an exercise program of 60 minutes per day and 3 days per week for the 24 weeks. The program included a 10-minute warm-up, a 40-minute medium-intensity bike spinning, and a 10-minute cool-down. The LG consisted of 27 participants undertaking a daily walking program of 12,757.29 ± 1,745.66 steps in average for 24 weeks. In order to maintain the consistency of the research, all the participants had to keep on a limited daily calorie intake (1,200 ~ 1,500 Kcal). The physiological obesity indices, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and lipoprotein levels were measured before and after exercise intervention in both groups. One-way ANCOVA was used to compare whether the differences between groups before and after intervention. The results were as follows: The bodyweight, BMI, fasting blood glucose levels, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level in the SG were significantly improved. While, the fasting blood glucose level, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, triglyceride, and HDL-C levels in the LG were significantly decreased. However, the SG performed better than the LG in terms of bodyweight, BMI and triglyceride levels. In summary, exercise intervention modes have certain effectiveness on improving risk factors for MS either in the SG or LG; however, the SG is better than the LG.