Can physical activity improve the mental health of older adults? Nicola
T Lautenschlager1 , Osvaldo P Almeida1 , Leon Flicker2 and Aleksandar
Janca1 1School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of
Western Australia, Perth, Australia 2School of Medicine and
Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Annals of General Hospital Psychiatry 2004, 3:12 doi:10.1186/1475-2832-3-12

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be
found online at: http://www.general-hospital-psychiatry.com/content/3/1/12

Received 22 June 2004 Accepted 29 June 2004 Published 29 June 2004

© 2004 Lautenschlager et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an
Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article
are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is
preserved along with the article's original URL. Abstract


Abstract
The world population is aging rapidly. Whilst this dramatic demographic
change is a desirable and welcome phenomenon, particularly in view of
people's increasing longevity, it's social, financial and health
consequences can not be ignored. In addition to an increase of many age
related physical illnesses, this demographic change will also lead to an
increase of a number of mental health problems in older adults and in
particular of dementia and depression. Therefore, any health promotion
approach that could facilitate introduction of effective primary,
secondary and even tertiary prevention strategies in old age psychiatry
would be of significant importance. This paper explores physical
activity as one of possible health promotion strategies and evaluates
the existing evidence that supports its positive effect on cognitive
impairment and depression in later life.

Full version: http://www.general-hospital-psychiatry.com/content/3/1/12