Background: Menopause is one of the stages in a woman’s life that affects her psychological health, the most frequent being anxiety and depression. In addition, another problem related to this stage is the lack of sleep that causes a decrease in the quality of sleep. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to analyze the effectiveness of a Qigong exercise program on sleep quality, anxiety, and depression in Spanish postmenopausal women. Methods: A total of 125 women were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) (n = 63) that carried out a Qigong exercise program for 12 weeks, or a control group (CG) (n = 62), which did not perform any type of intervention. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Women who underwent an intervention program experienced significant improvements for all measured variables, except for the use of sleeping medication and daytime dysfunctions that did not show any significant effect with respect to the group and group × time interaction. Conclusions: After an intervention based on a BaDuanJin Qigong exercise program for 12 weeks, improvements were observed in sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, the total score of the PSQI, anxiety and depression in postmenopausal Spanish women.
(1) Background: High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is a new exercise modality that emphasizes multi-joint functional movements adaptable to any fitness level and promotes greater muscle recruitment. Previous studies have evaluated the positive effects of HIFT on mental and cognitive health but have not evaluated it in older people. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of HIFT on general cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment. (2) Methods: Following the PRISMA 2020 guideline, articles that did a high-intensity functional physical exercise intervention on cognitive performance in older adults with mild to moderate cognitive impairment (MMSE > 10) or dementia, aged 55 years or older, published between 2011 and 2021 in five different electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, and Cochrane plus were included. (3) Results: 7 articles were included, all having general cognition as their primary outcome. All assessed general cognition using the Mini-Mental State Examination, the ADAS-Cog, or both. All studies had at least one HIFT experimental group with a frequency of 2 sessions per week and a variable duration between protocols of 12, 13, 16, and 26 weeks. Two articles showed that a progressive HIFT program improves general cognition, four articles showed no significant changes within or between groups and one article concluded that a HIFT intervention does not slow cognitive decline. (4) Conclusions: Evidence exists of the benefits of HIFT on general cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment, assessed using the MMSE, the ADAS-cog, or both. Two articles that showed improvement in cognitive function used progressive HIFT with 80% RM at 6, 12, and 1 weeks; however, in the other articles, due to the heterogeneity of intervention protocols, measurement time points, and control group activities, mixed results were evidenced
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong influence on people’s quality of life, and the different restrictive measures during the phases of the pandemic have had consequences for physical and mental health. This study determined the changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL), sleep quality, depression symptoms (DS), and physical activity (PA) level of middle-aged Colombian university personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis was performed following a longitudinal design on a sample of 354 people at four points before and during the pandemic. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the SF-12v2, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) were included in an online survey. The measurements showed a decrease in quality of life with respect to PCS from 91.66 ± 10.78 to 83.64 ± 17.22 (p = 0.000) and MCS from 87.57 ± 12.23 to 80.90 ± 17.31, while poor sleep quality increased from 25.99% to 47.46% (p = 0.000), with DS reaching the peak during mandatory confinement (14.69%). Regarding the level of physical activity, the period of mandatory confinement inverted the proportion, highlighting active people as a minority (32.2%). In the multivariate analysis, we adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and socioeconomic level, discarding confounding effects and their interactions with the results obtained. In conclusion, this study showed that the pandemic has had a negative impact on sleep quality, HRQoL, DS, and PA level.
Growing evidence suggests that rhythmic physical activity (PA) improves cognitive function in both persons with normal brain aging and with cognitive impairment. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of rhythmic PA over global cognition in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment. Different keywords related to the topic and Boolean operators were used in the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases. A total of 11 articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed; all of them assessed global cognition using either the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) or the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Five studies showed beneficial effects over global cognition. All studies had at least one experimental group with rhythmic training, and the interventions evidenced a great diversity of rhythmic stimuli, as well as a varied frequency, duration and type of activities. The heterogeneity of the protocols could be the reason for the mixed findings. Future studies with more precise exercise prescriptions are needed to establish whether rhythmic PA has beneficial effects on global cognition.
Physical exercise is a very promising non-pharmacological approach to prevent or reduce the cognitive decline that occurs in people aged 60 years or older. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a high-intensity intervallic functional training (HIFT) program on cognitive functions in an elderly Colombian population with mild cognitive impairment. A controlled clinical trial was developed with a sample of 132 men and women aged >65 years, linked to geriatric care institutions, which were systematically blind randomized. The intervention group (IG) received a 3-month HIFT program (n = 64) and the control group (CG) (n = 68) received general physical activity recommendations and practiced manual activities. The outcome variables addressed cognition (MoCA), attention (TMTA), executive functions (TMTB), verbal fluency (VFAT test), processing speed (Digit Symbol Substitution Test-DSST), selective attention and concentration (d2 test). After the analysis, improvement was found in the IG with significant differences with respect to the CG in the level of cognitive impairment (MoCA), attention (TMTA), verbal fluency and concentration (p < 0.001). Executive functions (TMTB) showed differences in both groups, being slightly higher in the IG (p = 0.037). However, no statistically significant results were found for selective attention (p = 0.55) or processing speed (p = 0.24). The multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed the influence of the education level on all cognition assessments (p = 0.026); when adjusting for sociodemographic variables, the influence of the intervention remained significant (p < 0.001). This study empirically validates that the implementation of a HIFT program has a positive effect on cognitive functions in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, professionals specialized in the care of this population could consider including functional training programs as an essential part of their therapeutic approaches. The distinctive features of this program, such as its emphasis on functional training and high intensity, appear to be relevant for stimulating cognitive health in the geriatric population.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.