Acute exercise performed close to the anaerobic threshold improves cognitive performance in elderly females

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of acute exercise performed at different intensities in relation to the anaerobic threshold (AT) on abilities requiring control of executive functions or alertness in physically active elderly females. Forty-eight physically active elderly females (63.8 ± 4.6 years old) were assigned to one of four groups by drawing lots: control group without exercise or trial groups with exercise performed at 60, 90, or 110% of AT (watts) and submitted to 5 cognitive tests before and after exercise. Following cognitive pretesting, an incremental cycle ergometer test was conducted to determine AT using a fixed blood lactate concentration of 3.5 mmol/L as cutoff. Acute exercise executed at 90% of AT resulted in significant (P < 0.05, ANOVA) improvement in the performance of executive functions when compared to control in 3 of 5 tests (verbal fluency, Tower of Hanoi test (number of movements), and Trail Making test B). Exercising at 60% of AT did not improve results of any tests for executive functions, whereas exercise executed at 110% of AT only improved the performance in one of these tests (verbal fluency) compared to control. Women from all trial groups exhibited a remarkable reduction in the Simple Response Time (alertness) test (P = 0.001). Thus, physical exercise performed close to AT is more effective to improve cognitive processing of older women even if conducted acutely, and using a customized exercise prescription based on the anaerobic threshold should optimize the beneficial effects.

Precisão da medida do limiar anaeróbio por meio do calorímetro portátil

“…At the end of each test, the measurement of oxygen and carbon dioxide percentage fractions in the gas mixture used for calibration was performed. The maximum error allowed was 16.16% to 17.86% for FO 2 . The cycloergonometer was calibrated by means of a 3 kg-ballast.…”

“…Currently, AT determination is of capital importance in the exercise science because it is a conditioning indicator in several groups of subjects [2][3][4][5][6][7] . For the indirect and bloodless determination of the AT, gas and ventilatory exchange measures were taken during an ergometric test with increments in the overload 8 .…”

“…Simpler and cheaper ergospirometers were created for clinical and field investigation. Several studies validated the measurements of VO 2 , VCO 2 and V E by means of such clinical equipment [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] , however a few studies determined the quality of the derived measurements such as AT 20 .…”

“…Considering the AT importance as exercise tolerance índex and conditioning indicator in several groups of individuals [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] , we conclude that MM RSS , as well as the visual inspection methods of AT -a and AT -b are satisfactorily accurate and objective for the determination of that metabolic reference. The inclusion of another visual inspection method (ExCO 2 ) did not reduce significantly the error.…”

A transient awakening of a patient with Alzheimer's disease that questions our practice

“…A study by Cordova et al. 9 also suggests that acute physical exercise may improve alertness and the processing of executive functions in elderly females. This is in accordance with Chmura et al.…”