Effects of Mind‐Body Exercises on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Meta‐Analysis

Wu, Chengyuan; Qu, Yi; Zheng, Xiaoyan; Cui, Shaoyang; Chen, Bin; Lu, Liming; Tang, Chunzhi

doi:10.1111/jgs.15714

Cited by 89 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Future cross-cultural MBI studies can test these speculations. These findings also coincide with documented larger effects of mindfulness-oriented body movement exercises (e.g., yoga, tai chi) on GCA, WM, and cognitive flexibility for older adults aged 50 years and above (Wu et al, 2019). Our findings are also partly consistent with emotion regulation theories which assert that women reap more benefits from mindfulness training than men as they experience larger reductions in self-focused negative repetitive thinking (Augustine Limitations notwithstanding, our meta-analysis presented with a number of strengths.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Children, adolescents, as well as young (aged 18 to 40 years), middle-aged (41-64), and older adults (65 years and older) who underwent MBIs experienced neurophysiological or self-and other-rated improvements in physical immunity, inflammation levels, cardiovascular indices, cognitive functions, mood regulation, flexible thinking, and perspective-taking (Abbott et al, 2014;Black & Slavich, 2016;Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, & Davidson, 2015;Flook et al, 2010;Kaunhoven & Dorjee, 2017;Wetherell et al, 2017). These salutary effects of MBIs have been documented in males and females situated in multiple geographical continents, including North America (Hofmann & Gómez, 2017), South America (Manotas, Segura, Eraso, Oggins, & McGovern, 2014;Waldemar et al, 2016), Europe (Abbott et al, 2014), Africa (McIntyre, Elkonin, de Kooker, & Magidson, 2018;Whitesman, Hoogenhout, Kantor, Leinberger, & Gevers, 2018), Asia (Keng et al, in press;Lu et al, 2019;Phang, Chiang, Ng, Keng, & Oei, 2016), and Oceania (Bernay, Graham, Devcich, Rix, & Rubie-Davies, 2016;Hwang et al, 2019). Advancing our understanding of the impact of mindfulness is thus essential.…”

Section: Trialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mindfulness Enhances Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis of 95 Randomized Controlled Trials

Nh¹,

Mg²

2020

Preprint

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Background: The past 30 years have witnessed growing scientific interest regarding the impact of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on cognitive functions. Several theories propose that habitually exercising mindfulness skills can improve cognitive abilities, but no comprehensive quantitative reviews of the effect of MBIs on global and unique cognitive domains exist to date. Method: This systematic review thus examined the effects of MBI on global cognitive ability (GCA) and 16 specific cognitive domains. MBI randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that administered cognitive tests pre- and post-treatment were included. Open-trials, non-randomized MBIs, and case-control studies were excluded. Keywords included “mindful*,” AND “executive attention (EA),” OR “working memory (WM).” Robust variance estimation and moderator analyses were conducted. Results: Ninety-five RCTs (n = 7,408) met eligibility criteria. MBI (vs. waitlist or no-treatment) had small-to-moderate significant effects on GCA, WM accuracy, inhibition accuracy and latency, EA, sustained attention accuracy, processing speed, and subjective attentional control (SAC) (g = 0.24 – 0.52). Likewise, MBI (vs. active control) had small-to-moderate positive effects on GCA, orienting, EA, WM accuracy, sustained attention (indexed by intra-individual coefficient of variation), and SAC (average g = 0.17 – 0.41). Age, gender, study quality, treatment duration, publication year, retention, statistical analysis, and country, moderated some treatment effects. Publication bias analyses showed that reliable treatment effects were restricted to EA, WM accuracy, inhibition accuracy, sustained attention, and SAC, depending on the control group. Conclusion: MBIs confer notable neuropsychological benefits and dose-response effects on some specific (vs. global) cognitive domains. Limitations, theoretical, and applied implications are discussed. (Note: This paper has not been peer reviewed. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission.)

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Trialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mindfulness Enhances Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis of 95 Randomized Controlled Trials

Nh¹,

Mg²

2020

Preprint

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“…Interventions that improve capacity in this area, such as exercise (Wu et al, 2019), may therefore be key tools for both prevention and treatment of depression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrinsic activity temporal structure reactivity to behavioural state change is correlated with depressive symptoms

Duncan

Hsu

Cheng

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) tend to focus their thoughts on their personal problems and negative self-reflection. This negative self-focus has a major impact on patient quality of life and is associated with a range of cognitive deficits. Self-related thoughts, such as those seen in rumination, have been associated with intrinsic activity within cortical midline structures. In normal conditions this intrinsic activity is responsive to behavioural state, changing as an individual switches from an internally to externally oriented context. It was hypothesised that this responsiveness would be blunted in patients with MDD (n = 26; control n = 37) and that the degree to which an individual was fixed in a particular intrinsic state would be correlated with reported ruminatory behaviours. This was tested by measuring intrinsic EEG activity temporal structure, quantified with detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), in eyes-closed and eyes-open task-free states and contrasting between the conditions. The difference between the internally oriented eyes-closed and externally oriented eyes-open states was then correlated with ruminatory behaviour, measured with the Rumination Response Scale. Healthy controls showed a robust beta band DFA change between states, moving from a critical to sub-critical activity state with the opening of the eyes. This change was not seen in MDD patients, with the eyes-closed DFA remaining similar to that in eyes-open. A negative correlation was seen between the DFA difference and rumination scores over the midline electrodes. These results identify a reduced reactivity of intrinsic activity properties in MDD that is related to greater ruminative symptoms.

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“…Additionally, practice of mind–body disciplines has been demonstrated to improve cognitive function. Three meta‐analyses have shown that training in yoga, Tai‐chi, and Qigong led to improved cognitive function in older populations (Chan, Deng, Wu, & Yan, ; Wayne et al, ; Wu et al, ). However, the mechanism of how these practices achieve these effects has not been established.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding mind–body disciplines: A pilot study of paced breathing and dynamic muscle contraction on autonomic nervous system reactivity

Chin

Kales

2019

Stress and Health

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Mind-body disciplines such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong have been demonstrated to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, but it remains unclear how these practices achieve these results, whether by breathing, movement, or some combination.This pilot study establishes a model to examine the individual and combined effects of paced breathing and rhythmic skeletal muscle contraction on the activation of the parasympathetic system during a cognitive stressor. Male participants were randomly assigned to one of four preconditioning groups: (a) paced breathing alone, (b) alternating upper extremity muscle contractions, (c) paced breathing synchronized with alternating contractions, or (d) a neutral control task. Autonomic response was assessed by heart rate variability during a standardized cognitive stressor. The alternating contraction group had 71.7% higher activation of parasympathetic signal over respiration alone (p < .001). Alternating contractions synchronized with breathing demonstrated 150% higher parasympathetic activation than control (p < .0001).Comparing the contraction alone and synchronized groups, the synchronized group demonstrated 45.9% higher parasympathetic response during a cognitive stressor (p < .001). In conclusion, paced breathing synchronized with rhythmic muscle contraction leads to more resilient activation of the parasympathetic response than either alternating contractions or breathing alone, which may help explain the stress reducing benefits of mind-body disciplines. K E Y W O R D Sbiological mechanisms of stress, cardiovascular reactivity, psychophysiology, respite/recovery resilience, stress, mindfulness, stress management

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Effects of Mind‐Body Exercises on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Meta‐Analysis

Cited by 89 publications

References 51 publications

Mindfulness Enhances Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis of 95 Randomized Controlled Trials

Mindfulness Enhances Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis of 95 Randomized Controlled Trials

Intrinsic activity temporal structure reactivity to behavioural state change is correlated with depressive symptoms

Understanding mind–body disciplines: A pilot study of paced breathing and dynamic muscle contraction on autonomic nervous system reactivity

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