The effects of physical activity on levels of depression, anxiety, and hypochondriasis in the elderly

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of physical activity on levels of depression, anxiety, and hypochondriasis in the elderly. The theoretical framework for this study is based on literature in the area of exercise and the effects of exercise on physiology and psychological variables.; The following hypotheses were investigated: (1) Physical activity, both low impact aerobics and body-toning exercises will result in lower self-perceived levels of depression, anxiety, and hypochondriasis from pretest to posttest measurement as compared to the lecture control group, (2) Resting heart rate and blood pressure will be lower at posttest compared to pretest in those participating in aerobic physical activities, (3) Those individuals participating in the aerobic group will have lower levels of depression, anxiety and hypochondriasis than the nonaerobic body-toning group at the completion of the program, (4) Participation in the nonaerobic body-toning group will result in lower self-perceived levels of depression, anxiety and hypochondriasis as compared to the lecture control group.; Participants for this study consisted of 45 adults between the ages of 60 to 87 and each treatment group contained 15 individuals. After a screening, the participants chose between three treatment groups: low impact aerobics, nonaerobic body-toning, or a lecture control group. The treatment phase lasted eight weeks. Measurements were taken one-month prior to the start of the program, at the start of the program, at the end of the eight week treatment phase, and at a one-month follow-up. The measurements that were utilized included the Geriatric Depression Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Self-rated Anxiety Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Illness Attitude Scale, and measurements of blood pressure and heart rate.; A pretest/posttest nonequivalent control group design was implemented and data on each of the dependent measures was analyzed by using Analysis of variance and the Analysis of covariance. Results were mixed. There was an overall effect on levels of depression when measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale. Depression levels appeared to decrease in those involved in the aerobic exercise group when compared to the body-toning and lecture control groups. There were also significant overall effects for levels of anxiety as measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Self-report Anxiety Scale. Scores on both measures decreased with involvement in the exercise groups. The first hypothesis was not supported on measures of depression, but there were significant findings for the Beck Anxiety Scale and the 9{dollar}rmsp{lcub}th{rcub}{dollar} subscale of the Illness Attitude Scale. This suggests that there may be a significant effect for exercise on levels of anxiety and hypochondriacal beliefs when compared to a lecture control. The findings for the Self-report Anxiety Scale were not significant however. There was no apparent effect on the physiological measures of blood pressure and heart rate, hypothesis #2, and there was also no support for hypothesis #3. There was no significant effect for hypothesis #4 when the nonaerobic body-toning class was compared to the lecture control group. In sum, it appears that involvement in aerobic exercise and body-toning exercise may have an effect on the reported levels of depression, anxiety and hypochondriasis in the elderly. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...