Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise Combined with Resistance Exercise on Neurocognitive Performance in Obese Women

Abstract

To the best of the author’s knowledge, there have been no previous studies conducted on the effects of a combination of acute aerobic and resistance exercise on deficit of inhibitory control in obese individuals. The aim of this study was, thus, to examine the effect of a single bout of such an exercise mode on behavioral and cognitive electrophysiological performance involving cognitive interference inhibition in obese women. After the estimated VO2max and percentage fat (measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (Hologic, Bedford, MA, USA) were assessed, 32 sedentary obese female adults were randomly assigned to an exercise group (EG) and a control group (CG), with their behavioral performance being recorded with concomitant electrophysiological signals when performing a Stroop task. Then, the EG engaged in 30 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise combined with resistance exercise, and the CG rested for a similar duration of time without engaging in any type of exercise. After the interventions, the neurocognitive performance was measured again in the two groups. The results revealed that although acute exercise did not enhance the behavioral indices (e.g., accuracy rates (ARs) and reaction times (RTs)), cognitive electrophysiological signals were improved (e.g., shorter N2 and P3 latencies, smaller N2 amplitudes, and greater P3 amplitudes) in the Stroop task after the exercise intervention in the EG. The findings indicated that a combination of acute moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance exercise may improve the neurophysiological inhibitory control performance of obese women.

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“…The exercise program comprised one set of 3–5 min warm-up session, four sets of combined exercise session for approximately 30 min in total, and a final set of 3–5 min relaxation and stretching session. 33 Each set of combined exercise lasted for 7 min and 15 s, with a brief break between sets. The participants used their bodyweight or 500–620 mL of dumbbell water weights for resistance training.…”

Effects of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise combined with resistance training on neurocognitive performance in obese women

“… 14 Also, it has been well established that positive effects of acute exercise on inhibitory control have been observed among both healthy and obese adults. 15 , 16 , 17 However, in terms of chronic exercise, it seems that at the moment, results on chronic exercise intervention and inhibitory control are somewhat equivocal. For example, although previous studies have shown that a long-term exercise intervention can facilitate inhibitory control among healthy young adults 18 and patients with fibromyalgia, 19 systematic reviews and meta-analysis reported only indicated modest benefits in the inhibitory control of healthy children and adolescents after they participated in various chronic exercise interventions.…”

“…The Stroop task is considered to be an appropriate assessment of deficits in inhibitory control in obese individuals 16 since it activates task-relevant fronto-cingulo-striatal neural networks comprising the left-hemispheric parieto-temporal and fronto-striatal regions. 23 When an individual performs such a cognitive task, he/she has to be equipped with the ability to resist interference from stimuli in the external environment (e.g., interference control/attentional inhibition).…”

Exercise: A Gate That Primes the Brain to Perform

“…Besides healthy adults, a few original articles in this Special Issue were related to other target clinical populations and aimed to test the beneficial effects of novel exercise protocols on cognition. Wen and Tsai [ 6 ] investigated the effects of a 30-min bout of supervised moderate-intensity aerobic (dance) combined with resistance exercise on neurophysiological (i.e., behavioral and cognitive electrophysiological) performance in sedentary obese female adults with impaired neurocognitive functions. The authors observed no behavioral (inhibitory control) benefits by the exercise mode but reported improved brain neural processing related to early and late inhibition, captured by brain electrical activity (e.g., event-related potential recording provided by electroencephalography—EEG).…”

“…In children aged 3–6 years with autism spectrum disorder, Wang et al [ 7 ] showed that implementation of cognitively and/or coordinatively demanding physical exercises (mini-basketball) significantly improved all aspects of executive functions, including working memory and inhibition, following a 12-week training program, as compared to the control group. Beyond these first behavioral outcomes in most of the aforementioned studies, neural correlates (e.g., changes in functional brain activity patterns) of the observed cognitive changes need to be further investigated as carried out by Wen and Tsai [ 6 ]. In elite basketball players, Chiu et al [ 8 ] investigated both behavioral responses but also neural correlates that modulated the executive functions as a function of playing positions in basketball.…”