Summary: Daily physical activities, from lighting chores to extreme exercise, offer instant mental benefits for middle-aged adults. Within an hour of physical activity, respondents demonstrated faster processing speeds comparable to those of four years of age. Using smartphone-based evaluations, experts recorded activity levels and mental testing several times a day over nine days.
More gains were reported by those who reported regular exercise. The findings suggest that motion at any intensity, yet little walks, can enhance brain health.
Important Facts:
- Any level of activity increased processing speed, equivalent to a four-year age reverse.
- Research involved middle-aged adults using device check-ins to examine real-time exercise effects.
- Greater mental benefits were associated with a higher frequency of action.
Origin: Penn State
Exercise has been shown to increase mental health and lower the risk of dementia and cognitive decline over time. However, a recent study from Penn State College of Medicine found that regular physical activity has immediate effects on mental health.
Whether the action was less intense, like dog walking or doing housework, or more intense, like jogging, the study found that middle-aged people who engaged in daily motion showed improvements in cognitive processing speed that were equivalent to four years younger.
The findings were published in the journal , Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Jonathan Hakun, assistant professor of neurology and psychology at Penn State and the Penn State College of Medicine, said,” You do n’t need to go to the gym to experience all the potential benefits of physical activity.
” All action is critical. The accumulation of physical activity that may contribute to a healthier lifestyle and have a potential positive impact on mental health can be attributed to daily movement.
Previous studies that examined the relationship between physical activity and mental health usually examined the long-term partnership, such as through a retrospective study that would take several months to a season.
Hakun expressed his interest in understanding the probable quick-term effects of physical activity on mental wellness more quickly.
Using a protocol known as biological momentary assessment, the research team used laptop technology to socialize with participants multiple times throughout their day-to-day lives. Over the course of nine times, members checked in six times a day, approximately every 3.5 hours.
Participants were asked if they had been actually engaged since their last check-in during each check-in. If they were engaged, they were asked to rate the power of their engagement — light, mild or robust. For instance, vigorous intensity was equated to vigorous intensity when running, hard biking, and cleaning were considered.
The participants were then asked to complete two “brain games,” one designed to measure cerebral processing speed and the other to measure working storage, which, according to Hakun, can be used as a measure of professional function.
The team analyzed data from 204 members who were recruited for the , Multicultural Healthy Diet Study to Reduce Cognitive Decline &, Alzheimer’s Chance.
Data was collected during the article’s foundation time. Respondents were people from the Bronx, New York, who had no prior mental impairment and were between the ages of 40 and 65. 34 % of the participants were Hispanic, while 34 % were Black or African Americans.
The team discovered that participants who reported being physically active for 3.5 time before that time improved in handling speeds, making them four years younger.
Although no working storage improvements were observed, the working memory task’s response time reflected the improvements in processing speed.
” We get slower as we age, both physically and cognitively. We can temporarily counter that with movement, which is the idea here. It’s compelling”, Hakun said.
” You might get a boost from a short walk or a little more action.”
Also, those who reported being engaged more frequently had better outcomes in the long run than those who reported overall having fewer physical activities.
According to Hakun, it suggests that regular physical activity may lead to increased mental health gains. He continued, adding that more research is required to know how much physical activity, as well as the frequency and timing of activity, affects mental health.
According to Hakun, potential research might include using activity monitoring tools and the natural momentary assessment to more accurately track the relationship between observed physical activity, behavior, and cognitive outcomes.
Additionally, he hopes to find out how mental health changes as a result of regular physical activity over time in comparison to typical maturing.
Another Penn State writers on the papers include Daniel Elbich, data scholar, and Tian Qiu, graduate student in disease and public health sciences, and , Martin Sliwinski, professor of human development and home studies.
Different artists include Lizbeth Benson, research associate professor at University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Mindy Katz, senior associate in the department of neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Pamela Shaw, top biostatistics analyst, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, and Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, professor of epidemiology &, people wellbeing, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
This work received funding from the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health.
About this news about exercise and cognition research
Author: Christine Yu
Source: Penn State
Contact: Christine Yu – Penn State
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
The authors ‘” Cognitive Health Implications of Daily Physical Activity in a Diverse Group of Middle-Aged Adults” Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Abstract
Cognitive Health Implications of Daily Physical Activity in a Diverse Group of Middle-Aged Adults
Background
A wide range of health benefits, including long-term benefits for cognitive and brain health, have been linked to physical activity. It’s unknown whether regular physical activity episodes have any lasting cognitive benefits.
Purpose
The current study sought to find out whether periodic physical occurrences that occur throughout a participant’s daily life are related to short-term improvements in cognitive health.
Methods
Participants completed a nine-day ecological momentary assessment protocol that included five daily self-reported physical activity and ambulatory cognitive tests of processing speed and visuospatial working memory.
To examine individual differences in average physical activity levels and performance changes in each task during the time period analyzed, data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling framework.
Results
According to the results of MLMs, physical activity during the time frame (3-5.5 % hrs, hr ) leading up to an assessment was linked to increases in cognitive aging, or four years of cognitive aging. Such improvements were observed for both moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels.
Although there was no correlation between visuospatial working memory accuracy and processing speed, the working memory task’s response time consistently reflected the correlation. The short-term benefits were observed, particularly, for individuals with an overall higher frequency of reported physical activity.
Conclusions
Our findings point to new potential intervention targets and suggest that engaging in regular physical activity, regardless of intensity, may have short-term, immediate advantages for cognitive health.
Clinical Trial information
NCT03240406.
