BACKGROUND: The world population is aging rapidly. Therefore, the social, financial and health consequences of increasing longevity cannot be ignored. In addition to increased age-related physical illnesses, this demographic change will also lead to an increased number of mental health problems. Thus, any health promotion approach that could facilitate introduction of effective primary, secondary and even tertiary prevention strategies in old age psychiatry would be of significant importance. This paper explored physical activity as one of the possible health promotion strategies with positive effects on mental health in later life. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, 372 male and female individuals aged 60 years and older were randomly allocated into case and control groups. An exercise program (two 30 to 45 minute sessions weekly for 2 months) was assigned to the case group. However, some practical problems divided the subjects in the case group into two subgroups of individual physical activity (n = 96) and group physical activity (n = 85). The 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) was administered in order to obtain information on mental health. The questionnaire was completed before, immediately and 3 months after the intervention. The data was analyzed by Chi-square test, paired t-test and independent t-test in SPSS11.5. FINDINGS: In the case group, the mean of GHQ total scores decreased immediately after the intervention (8 +/- 5.5 versus 5.6 +/- 5.1). The changes remained significant after 3 months (the mean after 3 months 5.6; p < 0.001). The scores of GHQ subscales including somatization, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression decreased in the case group and all changes remained significant after 3 months. In addition, there were significant differences in mental health benefits between subjects with group physical activity and those with individual physical activity, ie, doing exercise with a group was determined to be more effective. CONCLUSION: This study showed physical activity as an effective intervention which significantly improved mental health in older adults. However, performing physical activity in a group of individuals with the same age would have more benefits.

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