Short-Term Exercise Training Improves the Quality of Life of Sedentary Women with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

To quantify and compare the effects of six weeks of resistance (RET) and aerobic exercise training (AET) on HRQOL among sedentary women with GAD. Thirty sedentary women, aged 18-37 years, diagnosed by clinicians blinded to allocation with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD were randomized to RET, AET, or a wait list control (WL). RET involved two sessions of lower-body weightlifting per week. AET involved two sessions per week of leg cycling matched with RET on body region exercised, positive work, active exercise time, and weekly load progression. Six weeks of exercise training significantly improved physical and mental dimensions of HRQOL. RET significantly improved role physical (d= 1.04; 95%CI: 0.10, 1.97), role emotional (d= 0.96; 95%CI: 0.04-1.89), and mental health (d= 1.05; 95%CI: 0.11-1.98) subscales of the SF-36.