Combined fitness training improved quality of life in older adults
An 18-month randomized trial of 482 adults aged 60–82 found the largest gains with a combined exercise program that included mental tasks.
18 months
Limit: The advice-only control leaves organized activity itself as an alternative explanation for quality-of-life gains
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The randomized trial followed 482 adults aged 60–82 for 18 months after medical screening. Researchers assigned participants to Nordic walking, or walking with poles; water aerobics; adapted Pilates and stretching; a combined exercise program with mental tasks; or a control group given only general advice on morning exercise.
All four fitness groups improved measures of heart and lung function, coordination, muscle strength and quality of life compared with the control group, whose measures worsened. The combined program produced the greatest benefits. Its reduction in systolic blood pressure—the pressure when the heart beats—reached a clinically meaningful level. So did its gains in lung capacity and grip strength. It also produced the greatest improvements in vitality and mental health and the largest reductions in depression and anxiety.
Why it matters
The study addressed how organized fitness might help maintain activity and quality of life in later years. The authors argued for including combined programs in active-aging centers and social services.
Caveats
The control group received advice only, rather than another organized activity. The abstract did not provide numerical effect sizes, exercise schedules or information on harms; participants were aged 60–82.
The paper
Ural State Agrarian University
Upravlenie Obrazovaniem, 2025, Open access, CC BY
