2003 Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages 57-63
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a physical exercise on hyperlipidemia in psychiatric patients. Seventeen patients (males=10, females=7; mean age: 45.2 years; mean duration of illness: 20.1 years) participated in this study. Status of the continual exercise program, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (T-chol), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoproptein cholesterol (HDL-C), blood glucose (Glu) and endurance time were assessed before and at six-months and twelve-months after starting the program. The exercise program consisted mainly of 30 to 45 minutes of cycling once or twice per week. As a result, eight subjects (regular exercise group) underwent a physical exercise regularly at twelve months and nine subjects (irregular exercise group) discontinued participation in the study. The regular exercise group showed a significant decrease in TG after twelve months (p<0.05), and a tendency for an increase in endurance time after twelve months. In the BMI, the regular exercise group did not show an increase. However, the irregular exercise group showed an increase in BMI, T-chol and Glu at six to twelve months. These results suggest that long-term and continual regular exercise is important for psychiatric patients with hyperlipidemia, obesity and diabetes to improve their physical management. Our findings indicated that a physical exercise program is effective for these patients
