運動強度與老人心理健康之探討

Exercise Intensity and Mental Health of the Elderly in Taiwan

楊豐安(Feng-An Yang)

指導教授 ： 張宏浩

國立臺灣大學/生物資源暨農學院/農業經濟學研究所/碩士(2010年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2010.02307

摘要

過去幾十年來，長期低出生率及死亡率使得台灣人口結構快速老化，此一現象也帶來許多社會及公共衛生問題，其中老年憂鬱症已備受關注，它除了會降低生活品質之外，還會造成老人自殺的問題。在影響老年憂鬱的因素當中，運動已被提及為有效促進老人心理健康的方法，甚而運動強度也被認為是影響老人心理健康的關鍵因素，但是過去研究運動強度的文獻多以小樣本實驗或橫斷面資料來分析，對老人最適運動強度的決定也尚未有明確定論。因此本研究探討台灣老人運動強度與心理健康的關係來做為老人運動處方的參考。
本研究的資料來源為1996、1999及2003年的中老年身心社會生活狀況長期追蹤調查，並以運動後喘氣的程度做為衡量運動強度的指標。不同於以往文獻，本文先建立三期均衡式追蹤資料，並利用固定效果模型來進行實證分析，藉此方法可以控制潛在無法觀察到的異質性（unobserved heterogeneity）對老人心理健康之影響。實證結果顯示，運動對老人心理健康有顯著的助益，其中低強度運動較中強度運動為優；平常規律做低強度運動的老人得到憂鬱症的機率較沒運動的老人低12%，然而中強度運動卻對老年憂鬱症沒有顯著的影響。研究結果亦有其政策意涵：儘管低強度與中強度運動皆可以改善老人心理健康，本研究建議未來推廣老人運動與心理健康時，需特別注意運動強度，對台灣老人而言，低強度運動為最適運動強度。

關鍵字

心理健康 ； 憂鬱 ； 運動強度 ； 老人 ； 追蹤資料

並列摘要

Due to the high prevalence of depression among the elderly in Taiwan, the objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between exercise intensity and mental health. Although it has been documented that regular exercise is a significant factor associated with older people’s psychological well-being, the optimal pattern of exercise intensity is at best inconclusive.
In contrast to previous studies, this study utilizes a longitudinal survey of the elderly in Taiwan. The nonlinear panel data models are estimated using the fixed-effect method to control for potential unobserved heterogeneity and accommodate the censored and binary outcome variables.
Using personal perceived breathing level as the measurement of exercise intensity, the estimation results revealed that regular exercise contribute to better mental health, but low intensity was much better than moderate intensity. The results also suggested that moderate intensity exercise is not significant of depression, while low intensity exercise had led to twelve percent lower in probability of depression.
Some policy implications can be inferred from our findings. Although the results support that both light and moderate exercise are aggressive tools for improving mental health of the elderly, however, light intensity exercise can be seen as an optimal pattern of exercise for the Taiwanese elderly.

並列關鍵字

mental health ； depression ； exercise intensity ； elderly ； panel data

參考文獻

Wai, J. P., C. P. Wen, H. T. Chan, P. H. Chiang, M. K. Tsai, S. P. Tsai, and H. Y. Chang. 2008. “Assessing Physical Activity in an Asian Country: Low Energy Expenditure and Exercise Frequency among Adults in Taiwan.” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 17(2): 297-308.

Acevedo, E. O. and P. Ekkekakis. 2006. Psychobiology of Physical Activity. Illinois: Human Kinetics Press.

Andresen, E. M., J. A. Malmgren, W. B. Carter, and D. L. Patrick. 1994. “Screening for Depression in Well Older Adults: Evaluation of a Short Form of the CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale).” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 10 (2): 77-84.

Babyak, M., J. A. Blumenthal, S. Herman, P. Khatri, M. Doraiswamy, K. Moore, W. E. Craighead, T. T. Baldewicz, and K. R. Krishnan. 2000. “Exercise Treatment for Major Depression: Maintenance of Therapeutic Benefit at 10 Months.” Psychosomatic Medicine 62 (5): 633-8.

Beekman, A.T., D. J. Deeg, J. Van Limbeek, A. W. Braam, M. Z. De Vries MZ, and W. Van Tilburg. 1997. “Criterion Validity of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D): Results From a Community-based Sample of Older Subjects in The Netherlands.” Psychological Medicine 27 (1): 231-5.