. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 1.

Published in final edited form as: Mayo Clin Proc. 2021 Mar;96(3):788–814. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.07.033

Table 3:

A summary of notable studies that examined the acute and training effect of exercise on endogenous DHEA levels in old men and women. ^a DHEA= dehydroepiandrosterone; DHEA-S=Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate; RE= resistance exercise; RET=resistance exercise training; AE=aerobic exercise; AET=aerobic exercise training; ↔= unchanged; ↑= increased; 1RM=1-rep maximum; 10RM=10-rep maximum; HRmax= maximum heart rate.

Author, Year	Exercise Duration	Exercise details	Gender	Age	Effect of exercise on DHEA
Hersey, 1994 ²⁷⁰	Training	RET: progressive whole body AET: progressive treadmill walking/jogging	male and female	70-79	↔ resting DHEA following 6 months of RET or AET.
Copeland, 2002 ²⁶⁷	Acute	RE: 8 whole body exercises 3 sets, 10 reps at 10RM AE: 40 min cycling at 75% of HRmax	female	mean 62.3	RE, but not AE, ↑ DHEA immediately post-exercise. DHEA values returned to normal by 30 min post-exercise.
Villareal, 2006 ²²⁸	Training	Whole body progressive RET: 2-3 sets, 6-12 reps at 65-85% 1RM for 4 months	male and female	65-78	↔ resting DHEA following 4 months of RET.
Aldred, 2009 ²⁶⁹	Acute	AE: 50% of maximal treadmill workload for 30 min	male and female	65-75	↔ DHEA or DHEA-S immediately post-exercise.
Heaney, 2013 ²⁶⁸	Acute	AE: incremental submaximal walk test, terminated at 75% HRmax	male and female	60-77	DHEA was ↑ immediately post-exercise and was ↔ by 1 hr post-exercise.