Mental Disorder Prevention and Physical Activity in Iranian Elderly

Objectives: mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and dementiaare common in elderly. however, physical activity is suggested to beeffective in preventing such aging-related disorders. the aim of thisstudy was to investigate the role of physical activity on mental health inlater life.methods: four hundred elderly people were randomly divided into theintervention and control groups. the intervention consisted of exercisetwice a week for two months. mental health status before, just after,and three months after the study was assessed with the 28-item generalhealth questionnaire (ghq-28).results: the mean of the ghq-28 total scale decreased in the casegroup and this change remained significant after three months (before:8 ± 5.5, after three months: 5.6 ± 4.6, p < .001). ghq subscales includingsomatization, anxiety, social dysfunction, and depression decreasedsignificantly in the case group just after and three months afterthe intervention.conclusions: physical activity significantly prevents mental disorder inolder adults. although it has effects on anxiety, social dysfunction, anddepression, the greatest influence is on improving the somatizationsymptoms.