Harris Family Farms
Weight Training Helps Lift Depression
Older people who want to lift their spirits and get more quality sleep might consider joining the
local gym. Regular resistance training significantly reduced depression and improved sleep in
mildly to moderately depressed people in their 60's, 70's and 80's.
Half of the 32 volunteers exercised leg, hip and upper torso muscles on pneumatic resistance
equipment for 45 minutes three times each week. The other 16--the control group--attended a
group health education meeting. Resistance on the exercise equipment was set at 80 percent of
the maximum load each volunteer could complete in a single repetition on that day.
At the end the 10-week study, 14 of the 16 exercisers no longer met criteria for depression. Their
depression scores improved two to three times above the control group, the researchers reported
in the Journal of Gerontology (vol. 52A (1): M27-35). Quality of sleep improved in more than
one-third of the exercisers compared to none of the control group, they reported in Sleep (vol. 20
(2): 051-055).
Elders are at high risk for depression. Researchers with ARS and Harvard Medical School wanted
an alternative or an adjunct to anti-depressants because they can cause side effects, interact
adversely with other medications and increase the risk for falls or delirium. Moreover, they don't
counteract frailty or improve mobility and function.
Progressive resistance training, on the other hand, improved the volunteers' strength, vitality,
morale and ability to maintain social activities compared to the control group. It also reduced
physical pain and emotional stress that would otherwise interfere with normal activities. This is the
first controlled study to show that exercise is an effective antidote for depression and poor sleep in
older men and women. And it's the first study to show that resistance training can improve sleep in
any age group.
For more information, contact Maria A. Fiatarone, (617) 556-3075, Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts, Boston, MA
