Physical Activity and Cognitive Performance in the Older Population

Abstract

The effect of exercise on cognitive performance in an older population was studied. Thirty sedentary men and women 65–72 years of age were randomly assigned to a walking group, a weight training group, or a placebo control group. Intervention groups exercised 30–60 min 5 days per week for 16 weeks, with the walking group training at 60% heart rate reserve, the weight training group employing the DAPRE method of weight progression, and the placebo control group engaging in mild range-of-motion and flexibility movements that kept their heart rates close to resting levels. At baseline and 16 weeks posttraining each subject completed the Ross Information Processing Assessment (RIPA), a maximal graded treadmill test, and a strength assessment of the knee extensors and elbow flexors. Sixteen weeks of walking improved VO2peak of the sedentary subjects 15.8%; VO2peak did not improve in the other two groups. Additionally, the RIPA scores of the walking group increased 7.5%, while those of the weight-training and control groups showed little change.

Conclusions about interventions, programs, and approaches for improving executive functions that appear justified and those that, despite much hype, do not

“…Most were in older adults. Five of the seven studies (71%) found no EF benefits whatsoever (Blumenthal et al, 1989; Fabre, Chamari, Mucci, Massé-Biron, & Préfaut, 2002; Krafft et al, 2014; Moul, Goldman, & Warren, 1995; Smiley-Oyen, Lowry, Francois, Kohut, & Ekkekakis, 2008). Consistent with this, two meta-analyses of randomized control trials in adults (mostly older adults) found little or no EF benefits from aerobic activity (Angevaren et al, 2008 [which included 11 studies]; Smith et al, 2010 [which included 17 studies]).…”

Healthy mind in healthy body? A review of sensorimotor–cognitive interdependencies in old age

“…Generally, aerobic fitness intervention studies are conducted with cognitively healthy older adults who do not engage in regular physical activity before the intervention [41,42,61,66]. These individuals are then assigned randomly to an exercise or a control group.…”

“…Moul et al [66] assigned 30 sedentary older adults to either a walking group, a weight training group, or a placebo control group and asked the two exercise groups to train for 30-60 min, 5 days/week over a period of 16 weeks. At baseline and after the 16 weeks of training, individuals in all groups were tested with the Ross Information Processing Assessment test, which consists of ten subtests measuring memory, temporal and spatial orientation, and problem solving skills.…”

Exercise Fails to Improve Neurocognition in Depressed Middle-Aged and Older Adults

“…In that analysis, the reported effect size for neurocognitive tests of executive function (0.68 SD for treatment groups vs approximately 0.11 SD for control groups) was especially large. However, closer examination of the 18 studies included in the meta-analysis suggests an inconsistent pattern of results, in which we considered 5 to be positive (21,31,39,52,54), 6 equivocal (6,23,37,43,47,66), and 7 negative (14,22,30,34,41,45,50). 1 Among the five positive studies, we considered one to have limited generalizability because the clinical population studied had medical conditions that would greatly impact their neuropsychological test performance (i.e., institutionalized psychiatric patients (52)), whereas among the four remaining positive studies, only one used a well-validated set of clinical neuropsychological instruments (21).…”