Abstract
Psychological effects of the physical activity in elderly people. In this work we examine the effects of an 8-months aerobic and no-aerobic exercise program on psychological well-being, perceived effort and enjoyment in an initially sedentary elderly sample (aged 61-77 yrs). Ss were assigned to 1 of 4 groups: an aerobic exercise training group (n=34), a non-aerobic (yoga) training group (n=30), a social activity control group (n=23), or a waiting list control group (n=20). The Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES; McAuley & Courneya, 1994) was used to evaluate the global psychological responses induced by the exercise, the Perceived Exertion Scale (RPE-Scale; Borg, 1982) was used to measure the perceived effort, and the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES; Kendzierski & DeCarlo, 1991) was used to evaluate the degree of satisfaction of the exercise. Results showed increments in the psychological well-being and in the satisfaction in both exercise groups compared to the control groups. The aerobic activity training group showed significant higher scorings in the psychological well-being, sensation of fatigue and enjoyment than the no-aerobic activity g roup.
