Fitness tracking reveals task-specific associations between memory, mental health, and physical activity

Abstract

Physical activity can benefit both physical and mental well-being. Different forms of exercise (e.g., aerobic versus anaerobic; running versus walking, swimming, or yoga; high-intensity interval training versus endurance workouts; etc.) impact physical fitness in different ways. For example, running may substantially impact leg and heart strength but only moderately impact arm strength. We hypothesized that the mental benefits of physical activity might be similarly differentiated. We focused specifically on how different intensities of physical activity might relate to different aspects of memory and mental health. To test our hypothesis, we collected (in aggregate) roughly a century’s worth of fitness data. We then asked participants to fill out surveys asking them to self-report on different aspects of their mental health. We also asked participants to engage in a battery of memory tasks that tested their short and long term episodic, semantic, and spatial memory performance. We found that participants with similar physical activity habits and fitness profiles tended to also exhibit similar mental health and task performance profiles. These effects were task-specific in that different physical activity patterns or fitness characteristics varied with different aspects of memory, on different tasks. Taken together, these findings provide foundational work for designing physical activity interventions that target specific components of cognitive performance and mental health by leveraging low-cost fitness tracking devices.

Greater physical fitness (Vo2Max) in healthy older adults associated with increased integrity of the Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenergic system

“…The number of participants may also explain why our signi cant associations did not survive multiple comparison corrections and the lack of mediation effects. However, our sample size is similar to other studies investigating vo2max in relationship to brain and cognitive variables (Manning et al 2022;Nilsson et al 2020;Bosch et al 2020), and also matched the size of other relevant studies whose used the same methodology than ours (Olivo et al 2021;Petkus et al 2021). Furthermore, we have also enhanced the validity of our design by performing thorough control analyses, contrasting 9 different hypotheses to the main hypothesis, and systematically covarying for relevant confounding factors such as age, gender, education, total intracranial volume, and max heart rate.…”

Greater physical fitness (Vo2Max) in healthy older adults associated with increased integrity of the Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenergic system

“…The number of participants may also explain why our significant associations did not survive multiple comparison corrections and the lack of mediation effects. However, our sample size is similar to other studies investigating vo2max in relationship to brain and cognitive variables (Manning et al 2022;Nilsson et al 2020;Bosch et al 2020), and also matched the size of other relevant studies whose used the same methodology than ours (Olivo et al 2021;Petkus et al 2021). Furthermore, we have also enhanced the validity of our design by performing thorough control analyses, contrasting 9 different hypotheses to the main hypothesis, and systematically covarying for relevant confounding factors such as age, gender, education, total intracranial volume, and max heart rate.…”

Predicting cognitive scores from wearable-based digital physiological features using machine learning: data from a clinical trial in mild cognitive impairment

“…Next, since most analyzable data were collected while participants slept, we were unable to use acceleration data capturing physical gross-motor activity which could be informative for detecting cognitive impairment [ 50 , 51 ]. Similarly, due to the lack of day-time data we were unable to examine circadian and rest-activity rhythms which are also associated with changes in cognitive function [ 52 – 54 ].…”