Pilot study: can older inactive adults learn how to reach the required intensity of physical activity guideline?

• Published in: Clinical interventions in aging 2013-01, Vol.8, p.501-508
• Main Authors: Bouchard, Danielle R, Langlois, Marie-France, Boisvert-Vigneault, Katherine, Farand, Paul, Paulin, Mathieu, Baillargeon, Jean-Patrice
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerobic exercise; Aged; Aging; Analysis of Variance; Body Composition; Body Mass Index; Canada; Exercise; Exercise for the aged; Exercise Test; Female; Guidelines as Topic; Health aspects; Health Promotion; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Original Research; Pacing; Physical fitness; Physical fitness for the aged; Physiological aspects; Pilot Projects; Sedentary Behavior; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome; Walking; Walking - physiology; World Health Organization
• ISSN: 1178-1998; 1176-9092; 1178-1998
• DOI: 10.2147/CIA.S42224

Most individuals do not reach the recommended physical activity level of at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise (AE) at moderate-to-vigorous intensity per week. For example, only 13% of older Canadian adults reach World Health Organization physical activity guideline (PAG). One of the reasons might be a difficulty identifying the required intensity. Twenty-five inactive older adults received one session about the AE-PAG and how to use a tool or strategy to help them identify AE intensity: heart-rate (HR) monitor (% of maximal HR; N = 9); manual pulse (% of maximal HR; N = 8); or pedometer (walking cadence; N = 8). Participants had 8 weeks to implement their specific tool with the aim of reaching the PAG by walking at home. At pre- and post-intervention, the capacity to identify AE intensity and AE time spent at moderate-to-vigorous intensity were evaluated. Only the two groups using a tool increased total AE time (both P < 0.01), but no group improved the time spent at moderate-to-vigorous intensity. No significant improvement was observed in the ability to correctly identify AE intensity in any of the groups, but a tendency was observed in the pedometer group (P = 0.07). Using walking cadence with a pedometer should be explored as a tool to reach the PAG as it is inexpensive, easy to use, and seemed the best tool to improve both AE time and perception of intensity.