Influence of Nordic Walking Training on Vitamin D Level in the Blood and Quality of Life among Women Aged 65–74

Abstract

Introduction. Demographic forecasts indicate the progressive aging process of societies in all countries worldwide. The extension of life span may be accompanied by deterioration of its quality resulting from a decrease in physical activity, mental or even social performance, and a deficit in certain chemical compounds responsible for proper functioning of the body. Aim. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of a 12-week Nordic walking (NW) training intervention on the level of vitamin D in the blood and quality of life among women aged 65–74 years. Materials and methods. The study comprised 37 women aged 65–74 (x = 68.08, SD = 4.2). The subjects were randomly assigned to 2 groups: experimental group (NW), which consisted of 20 women who underwent an intervention in the form of Nordic walking training for 12 weeks, and the control group (C), including 17 women who underwent observation. In the experimental group, training sessions were held 3 times a week for 1 h. At that time, the C group was not subject to any intervention. The SF−36 questionnaire was used to measure quality of life. Vitamin D was assessed based on the results of biochemical blood tests. The analysed parameters were assessed twice-before and after the completed intervention or observation. Results. Comparison of the results regarding trials 1 and 2 allowed to note statistically significant improvement in quality of life for all health components and factors in the NW group. Analysis of vitamin D levels demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the NW group. In group C, no significant changes in the analysed parameters were observed. Conclusions. Regularly undertaking Nordic walking training significantly influences the improvement of self-evaluation regarding the components of physical and mental health, as well as the concentration of vitamin D in women aged 65–74 years.

Aqua Walking as an Appropriate and Healthy Winter and Summer Physical Practice? An Exploratory Study

“…Finally, the HRQOL evaluation reveals a great to excellent overall quality of life with sub-scores for mental and physical scores of 74.9 ± 17.3 and 71.9 ± 19.1, respectively. Interestingly, the results suggest a higher overall quality of life among our participants when compared to aged-matched non-exercisers (main physical score of 58 ± 4.6), and similar to what can be observed in regular Nordic walkers aged 65-74 years old (main physical score of 72.1 ± 4.2) [31]. In addition, while the total health self-perception of our participants is found to be similar to what was previously observed among 50 to 65 year-old postmenopausal brisk-walking women [24], it appears to be significantly higher than what has been recently shown among tertiary men and women workers aged 45-55 years old, who reported an overall health perception score between 4.2 and 5.8 out of 10 [32].…”

Influence of Nordic walking with poles with an integrated resistance shock absorber on carbohydrate and lipid metabolic indices and white blood cell subpopulations in postmenopausal women

“…For example, Fernandes & Barreto Jr (2017) suggested that physical activity may help to achieve higher vitamin D serum levels in the population, as factors other than sun exposure appeared to be responsible for higher vitamin D levels in more active individuals; however, this phenomenon needs further investigation. In addition, increased vitamin D levels ( p < 0.0001) were identified in women aged 65–74 years after training outdoors in Nordic walking 3 times a week for 60 min, from April to June; no statistically significant changes were found in the control group ( Podsiadło et al, 2021 ). In light of these results, the authors of this study concluded that physical activity of average intensity, carried out outdoors (with sun exposure), positively affected the level of vitamin D; however, taking other studies into account, they concluded that indoor activity (without direct exposure to sunlight) may also have an positive influence.…”

The effect of physical activity on vitamin D: A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies in humans

“…We identified 946 articles through our database searches and three additional articles were identified through reference list searches. After removing duplicates, the titles and abstracts of 667 articles were screened; 123 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, 32 were included in the review [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] ] and 24 in the meta-analysis [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , 29 , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , 51 ] ( Fig. 1 ).…”

“…In most studies the physical activity interventions were supervised but two home-based physical activity programs were unsupervised [ 26 , 40 ] and two studies had both supervised training sessions and unsupervised home-based sessions [ 39 , 44 ]. Six studies did not clearly state whether the physical activity sessions were supervised or not [ 36 , 38 , [46] , [47] , [48] , 52 ]. The frequency of the physical activity interventions ranged from once a week to once daily, with the length of each session ranging from 30 to 75 min.…”

“…However, for six studies we were unable to deduce the location of intervention from the description given. One study had separate intervention arms for indoors and outdoors physical activity [ 31 ] and two studies specifically designed the intervention to take place outdoors [ 36 , 48 ]. In one study, participants were encouraged to be moderately physically active and were supplied with a pedometer; however, no information was included in the paper about the location of their activity.…”