EXERCISE, AGING, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION

一个多学科的调查，建议审查所发挥的作用， 通过有氧运动在提高心理社会和认知能力 200名老年人（60-74岁）的功能。随机试验将 比较有氧运动干预和拉伸的效果， 控制组在监督下进行为期6个月的活动 六个月的后续计划。预计有氧运动 该计划将大大提高干预后的体能 这些科目的变化，在健身将导致改善 认知功能（记忆力和注意力）和增强的心理社会功能 功能（改善心理健康和自我效能）。而它 据信，演习中的一个重要机制- 认知关系是心血管健康，假设， 自我效能感在健身对心理幸福感的影响中起中介作用。 最后，心理或心理健康的真实表现包括 足够的认知功能和积极的心理健康。它将 因此，本项目的另一个目的是进行探索性的 分析了认知和心理社会之间的关系 方案结束时和后续行动时的反应。两个治疗 预计这些群体的功能水平相对较低， （身体、认知和心理社会）水平， 在有氧运动组的功能将显着增加， 与拉伸/调色组相比，该程序的过程。的确， 如果两组都表现出类似的认知和 心理社会功能，但不同程度的有氧健身收益 (i.e.,有氧运动会比有氧运动有更明显的改善。 拉伸/对照组），这将是强有力的证据表明， 健康的增加不是心理健康改善的必要条件， 本身的重大贡献。这项调查试图 克服了许多方法和概念上的问题，使 这方面的现存文献充其量也是模棱两可的。第一，建议 该项目是理论性的，而不是描述性的。二是 针对的定居老龄人口代表了人口的一部分 他们从锻炼中获得的好处比那些正常的人群要多 研究了第三，多方法评估跨项目的演习 行为和生理功能（运动日志，长期随访， 心肺功能、心率）和心理功能 （记忆力，注意力，功效，影响）将被使用，使我们能够 全面衡量感兴趣的变量，并确定 治疗对这些结构的影响，以及可能的相互关系 其中。最后，我们包括同等数量的男性和女性， 适当比例的少数群体代表全体 该地区的老年人口，运动干预将是 与非有氧对照组相比。拟议的调查 代表了一项前瞻性干预研究， 其目标是采取综合办法， 和美国老年人的福祉。

A multidisciplinary investigation is proposed to examine the role played by aerobic exercise in enhancing the psychosocial and cognitive functioning of 200 aging adults (60-74 years). A randomized trial will compare effects of an aerobic exercise intervention and a stretching and toning control group engaged in activity for six months in supervised programs with a six month follow-up. It is expected that aerobic exercise program will substantially enhance the physical fitness post-intervention of these subjects and that changes in fitness will result in improved cognitive function (memory and attention) and enhanced psychosocial function (improved psychological well-being and self-efficacy). Whereas it is believed that the particular mechanism of importance in the exercise- cognition relationship is cardiovascular fitness, it is hypothesized that self-efficacy mediates the impact of fitness on psychological well-being. Finally, a true representation of psychological or mental health comprises adequate cognitive function and positive psychological well-being. It will therefore be a further purpose of this project to conduct exploratory analyses examining the relationship between cognitive and psychosocial responses at the end of the program and at follow-up. Both treatment groups are expected to demonstrate relatively low levels of functioning (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) at baseline and that levels of functioning in the aerobic exercise group will increase markedly over the course of the program as compared to the stretching/toning group. Indeed, if both groups were to demonstrate similar increases in cognitive and psychosocial functioning but differ in degree of aerobic fitness gains (i.e., aerobic will make more marked improvements than the stretching/control group), this would be strong evidence to suggest that fitness gains are not necessary for psychological health improvements, a significant contribution in itself. This investigation attempts to overcome many of the methodological and conceptual problems that make the extant literature in this area equivocal at best. First, the proposed project is theoretically grounded rather than descriptive. Second, the sedentary aging population targeted represents a segment of the population which stand to gain more from exercise than those populations normally studied. Third, multi-method assessment across projects of exercise behavior and physiological function (exercise logs, long-term follow-up, cardiorespiratory function, heart rate), and psychological functioning (memory, attention, efficacy, affect) will be employed, allowing us to comprehensively measure the variables of interest and to determine treatment effects on these constructs, as well as possible interrelations among them. Finally, we include equal numbers of males and females, an appropriate proportion of minorities to be representative of the general older population in the region, and the exercise intervention is to be compared to a non-aerobic control group. The proposed investigation represents a prospective intervention study that is theoretically grounded and has as its objective a comprehensive approach to improving the health and well-being of older Americans.