High-Intensity Interval Training Versus Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training for Improving Physical Health in Elderly Women

Abstract

In elderly women, a lack of regular physical exercise may result in faster decreases in general health and functional performance. Although high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) have been effectively applied in young and clinical groups, there is no evidence to support their use in elderly women to achieve health benefits. Thus, the major goal of this study was to investigate how HIIT affected health-related outcomes in elderly women. Twenty-four inactive elderly women agreed to participate in the 16-week HIIT and MICT intervention. Body composition, insulin resistance, blood lipids, functional capacity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and quality of life were all measured before and after the intervention. The number of differences between groups was determined using Cohen’s effect sizes, and the pre-post intra-group changes were compared using paired t-tests. Using 2 × 2 ANOVA, the time × group interaction effects between HIIT and MICT were evaluated. Body fat percentage, sagittal abdominal diameter, waist circumference, and hip circumference all were improved significantly in the 2 groups. HIIT substantially improved fasting plasma glucose and cardiorespiratory fitness as compared to the MICT. HIIT improved the lipid profile and functional ability more significantly compared to the MICT group. These findings show that HIIT is a useful exercise for improving elderly women’s physical health.

Type I interferon induced differences in exercise adaptations of aerobic capacity and fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus – A randomised controlled single-centre trial v1.0

“…This strategy might be inferior to a long-term (180 minute) moderate intensity exercise program that exhausts glycogen deposits, when studying IL-6 responses to exercise 66 . Such a program was however deemed infeasible for patients to complete thrice weekly, and the HIIT program used in our study has proven equal or superior to moderate continuous exercise for improving aerobic capacity in multiple patient groups and healthy volunteers 10,11,13,15,16,18,[67][68][69][70][71] . Furthermore, using a widely adapted HIIT protocol will increase our possibility to compare our results to other studies.…”

“…Compared to MCT, HIIT has proven particularly effective at increasing VȮ2max and alleviating fatigue in several other populations than SLE-patients, including healthy 13,14 , middle-aged 15 , and elderly women 16,17 , heart failure patients 10,12 , as well as pre-and perioperative cancer patients 11,18 . As of now, no randomised controlled studies have investigated the impact of HIIT on fatigue or VȮ2max in SLE.…”

Effects of strength training on functional ambulation following knee replacement: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression

“…Thus, the results of our study should be interpreted with caution, and more studies are warranted for a robust conclusion. (3) Studies in healthy adults have shown that training intensity is a critical parameter for the improvement of muscle strength and functional ability 66 , 67 . However, insufficient data for this parameter were presented in six included studies, so we were not able to explore the dose–response relationship between it and functional ambulation.…”