Abstract
IntroductionThe masters athlete has been proposed as a model of successful aging. Research studies investigating psychological outlook in older athletes have primarily addressed negative affects including depression, anxiety, and stress. The impact of lifelong exercise on positive affect and life satisfaction as well as sleep impairment that could impact on these psychological states is largely unknown.MethodsA series of questionnaires (general life satisfaction, positive affect, and sleep-related impairment) were administered to 240 masters athletes participating in the World Masters Athletics Championships. Total raw scores were converted into T scores for comparison with the general population. Meaningful difference was defined by the PROMIS® as one-half standard deviation from the centering sample.ResultsMeaningful differences were observed for improved general life satisfaction and reduced sleep impairment for all masters athletes. Positive affect did not reach the meaningful difference threshold. No significant sex differences were found for any of the questionnaires (all p > 0.05). Similarly, no significant differences were found between endurance, sprint, and strength/power sports for general life satisfaction (p = 0.18), positive affect (p = 0.46), and sleep impairment (p = 0.77). In general, life satisfaction increased with age (r = 0.15, p = 0.02), and sleep impairment trended towards reduction with age (r = −0.13, p = 0.05). Positive affect demonstrated no correlation with age (r = 0.09, p = 0.18).ConclusionThis study demonstrates that the lifestyles of masters athletes contribute to improved general life satisfaction and reduced sleep impairment but not improved positive affect. The beneficial effects were observed irrespective of age, gender, and sporting types.
Highlights
IntroductionResearch studies investigating psychological outlook in older athletes have primarily addressed negative affects including depression, anxiety, and stress
The masters athlete has been proposed as a model of successful aging
For all questionnaire score comparisons, the general United States population from the 2000 US General Census was used as the centering sample for Masters athletes divided into three sub-disciplines of sports groups including endurance, sprint, and strength/power events were well-matched for age, body mass index (BMI), exercise training volume, and demographic characteristics (Table 1)
Summary
Research studies investigating psychological outlook in older athletes have primarily addressed negative affects including depression, anxiety, and stress. The masters athlete has been proposed as a model of successful aging and is thought to demonstrate high physiological reserve, intrinsic motivation to succeed, and positive psychological outlook due to incorporation of chronic exercise over the lifespan (Shephard et al, 1995; Hawkins et al, 2003; Tanaka and Seals, 2003; Tanaka et al, 2011). Research investigating psychological outlook in older athletes has primarily addressed negative affects including depression, anxiety, and stress (Heo and Lee, 2010; Bardhoshi et al, 2016). This is unfortunate because high life satisfaction is associated with decreased risk for mortality and predicts lower risk of all-cause and natural-cause morality (Xu and Roberts, 2010; Diener and Chan, 2011)
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