Can high-intensity interval/circuit training improve the cognitive function and quality of life of patients in recovery from substance use disorder?

Abstract

This protocol aims to examine if structured physical activity reduces the recovery time of cognitive functioning during the early phase of substance use disorder treatment. Addiction or substance dependence is associated with neurobiological changes and cognitive impairment, which may affect the quality of life and ability to benefit from therapy up to a year after clinical detox. A physical exercise is a therapeutic approach which may lead to increased quality of life as well as relief of symptoms associated with substance abuse, such as psychosis, depression, and anxiety, due to its biological, psychological and social effects. There is a dearth of research on physical activity or exercise in clinical substance use disorders patients. This clinical study protocol examines cognitive recovery after substance abuse using physical exercise as a treatment intervention. This study is using quasiexperimental longitudinal clinical trial with pretest and multiple posttests, on two-time sequential groups that are naturally randomized before group entry. Patients are continuously recruited into the study groups. Starting with a controlled group and finalizing it and sequentially followed with a new group with intervention. Sixty patients are divided into control and intervention group. Patients are enrolled two weeks after the start of detoxification, at which time all subjects are inpatients at the Salvation Army treatment Center Stavanger in the Norwegian specialized healthcare system. Cognition is evaluated using a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests, including several tests of executive functioning. Physical fitness is tested with Rockport 1-Mile Walk Test, 30 Second Chair Stand Test. Also, the 1-minute Burpee test and the presence of primitive reflexes tested at baseline within the first two weeks of admittance and after four weeks. The intervention consists of 30 minutes' workout, at 70-90% of max heart rate (134-170 bpm), recorded by a Polar heart rate monitor. The adjunct treatment is four times a week for four weeks of highintensity training using circuit training (HICT), as well as HIIT functional movement and primitive reflex training. After the intervention protocol, an improvement is anticipated in both groups, with the exercise intervention group having the most considerable increase in return towards normalizing cognitive functioning due to having combined functional full body movements with primitive reflex training in an intensity interval training setting.