Exercise and social activity improve everyday function in long-term care residents.

Objectives: This study examined the effects of high-intensity resistance strength training and walking (E), individualized social activity (SA), and resistance training and walking combined with social activity (ESA) on everyday function in long-term care (LTC) residents and explored the relationship between change in everyday function and change in sleep.

Design: The study used data from The Effect of Activities and Exercise on Sleep, a randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Residential LTC facilities.

Participants: A total of 119 participants who had measures of everyday function and sleep at baseline and postintervention.

Interventions: The E group exercised 5 days a week. The SA group was involved in social activities 5 days a week. The ESA group received both E and SA interventions. The usual care (UC) control group participated in usual activities.

Measurements: Everyday function was measured by the Nursing Home Physical Performance Test. Nighttime sleep was measured by attended polysomnography.

Results: The UC and SA groups showed a decline in everyday function, whereas the E and ESA groups showed improvement. There were statistically significant differences between the groups, with pairwise comparisons showing significant improvements in the ESA group over the SA group (95% confidence interval, -3.94 to -0.97) and the UC group (95% confidence interval, -3.69 to -0.64). No relationship was found between change in everyday function and change in sleep.

Conclusion: Seven weeks of high-intensity resistance strength training and walking, combined with individualized social activities (ESA), improved everyday function among LTC residents, independent of change in sleep.