Cardio or weights, exercise eased low mood in healthy over-60s

Depression and shrinking physical capacity are two of the biggest threats to a good later life, and exercise is one of the few interventions that plausibly addresses both at once. Aerobic training, resistance training and combined programmes can all be adapted to the needs of older people, but it has been less clear how they compare for mood, quality of life and strength in those who are otherwise healthy. Much of the existing attention goes to clinical populations, leaving healthy older adults comparatively understudied. This analysis pulled together the randomised evidence for people aged 60 and over.

The authors searched PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Google Scholar and Scopus from inception to February 2022 for randomised controlled trials of exercise training in healthy people aged 60 or more. Eighteen studies met the criteria, contributing 1354 participants in total. The outcomes examined were depressive symptoms, quality of life measured across several subscales, and muscle strength in the upper and lower limbs. Subgroup analyses then split the results by training type, participant gender and the length of the intervention.

Exercise training significantly reduced depressive symptoms overall, a moderate effect across the pooled trials. Quality of life improved on several fronts: bodily pain and body mass fell, while mental health, physical functioning and general health scores rose. Strength improved in both the upper and lower limbs. In subgroup analyses, the antidepressant effect held for aerobic training and for resistance training, for studies enrolling both genders or men, and for both medium and long term interventions.

The findings sit comfortably alongside the wider literature connecting exercise with better mood, and extend it by focusing specifically on healthy older adults rather than patients. That both aerobic and resistance training worked suggests the mood benefit is not tied to one modality. Open questions remain: the authors note that the optimal dose of exercise is still undefined, and the subgroup results leave the picture for women-only studies less clear. Further trials are needed to settle those details.

For anyone past 60, or heading there, this is a reason to think the mood benefits of exercise do not hinge on choosing the right type, since the pooled trials found both cardio and strength work moved the needle. The gains extended beyond mood into strength, pain and several aspects of quality of life, so one habit appears to pay out on several fronts at once. What this cannot tell you is exactly how much exercise is ideal, because the authors flag that as unresolved. It informs the choice to move; it does not prescribe the programme.