A UC Davis researcher offers this advice to middle-aged men and women who are starting aerobic exercise: Your vigor and mood are likely to improve far less than they do in people who have been exercising longer.

This may contribute to the difficulties that middle-aged people experience in initiating and maintaining a regular exercise program, said Martin Hoffman, chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the Department of Veterans Affairs' Northern California Health Care System, and a volunteer clinical professor in the UC Davis Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

The finding stems from his research involving nonexercisers, regular-to-moderate exercisers and ultra-marathon runners, asking them mood-related questions before and after exercise. The study participants ranged in age from 28 to 59; each group comprised eight men and eight women with a mean age of 40-plus.

The most striking results were changes in vigor and fatigue. The study found that aerobic exercise sessions resulted in an increase in vigor and a decrease in fatigue among ultra-marathon runners and regular moderate exercisers, whereas nonexercisers showed no improvement in these scores.

Total mood disturbance improved in all three groups after exercise, but the experienced exercisers showed approximately double the effect of the nonexercisers. Hoffman was lead author of the study published recently by the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

-- UC Davis Health System