O papel da atividade física na associação entre resiliência e saúde mental em idosos

Abstract

Population aging challenges society to adapt to provide better health and quality of life for the elderly. The mental health of the elderly is among the new demands. And it is related to positive resources and coping strategies for healthy aging, such as physical exercise, resilience and social support. People with high levels of physical activity have more resilience and better mental health, therefore, physical activity is a promising factor to be investigated. So the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between resilience and mental health (depression, anxiety and stress) in older adults and how physical activity influences that relationship. Initially, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to investigate the association between of resilience and depression in the elderly, which found moderate inverse correlation between the two constructs (r = -0.35, 95% CI -0.41 to -0.28). Then a cross-sectional study was conducted with elderly aged 60 or more participants in a program for the elderly in Brazil. The following were evaluated: physical activity (IPAQ), resilience (Psychological Resilience Scale) and mental health (Depression Scale, Anxiety and Stress - DASS 21). Associations between resilience and mental health (depression, anxiety and stress) were analyzed between active and sedentary elderly (based on the IPAQ classification), adjusting for sociodemographic data, functionality and social support. 312 elderly (179 active and 133 sedentary) were included in the study. Considering the whole sample, an inverse relationship was found for resilience with depression and stress. Among the sedentary, in spite of there not being an association between total resilience and mental health, there was an inverse relationship for the “meaning of life” component of the resilience and depression scale. In the group of active seniors, there was an association between overall resilience and its components with depression and stress, but not the component "meaning of life" of the resilience scale. The results suggest that physical activity can do the elderly to use different mechanisms of resilience as mental health protectors.