Physical activity and enhanced fitness to improve cognitive function in older people without known cognitive impairment

Abstract

There is evidence that aerobic physical activities which improve cardiorespiratory fitness are beneficial for cognitive function in healthy older adults, with effects observed for motor function, cognitive speed, delayed memory functions and auditory and visual attention. However, the majority of comparisons yielded no significant results. The data are insufficient to show that the improvements in cognitive function which can be attributed to physical exercise are due to improvements in cardiovascular fitness, although the temporal association suggests that this might be the case. Larger studies are still required to confirm whether the aerobic training component is necessary, or whether the same can be achieved with any type of physical exercise. At the same time, it would be informative to understand why some cognitive functions seem to improve with (aerobic) physical exercise while other functions seem to be insensitive to physical exercise. Clinicians and scientists in the field of neuropsychology should seek mutual agreement on a smaller battery of cognitive tests to use, in order to render research on cognition clinically relevant and transparent and heighten the reproducibility of results for future research.

The effects of golf training in patients with stroke: a pilot study

“…Furthermore, there is some evidence that exercise also increases cognitive performance (Colcombe and Kramer, 2003;Angevaren et al, 2008). Cumming et al (2012) consider in a review of twelve studies, the influence of physical activity on cognitive function in stroke patients.…”

Healthy Brain Aging: Role of Exercise and Physical Activity

“…In a recent Cochrane review Angevaren and colleagues 68 assessed the effectiveness of physical activity on cognitive function in people older than 55 years without cognitive impairment. Eight of 11 RCTs that compared aerobic physical activity programs with any other intervention or no intervention reported an improvement in cognitive capacity that coincided with the increased cardiorespiratory fitness of the intervention group.…”

“…However, most RCTs of physical activity in older adults suggest a selective improvement in executive control processes. 53,68 Aerobic exercise intervention enhances executive function, although other cognitive functions seem to be insensitive to physical exercise (aerobic exercise affected cognitive and neural plasticity in a cross-sectional study). 51 The specificity that aerobic exercise has on executive function suggests some specificity for aerobic exercise on brain function that requires further research.…”

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire modified for the elderly: aspects of validity and feasibility

“…In both men and women, individuals with a high level of PA have been shown to have a longer life expectancy than more sedentary individuals (1,2) . More recently, positive effects of PA have also been reported on cognitive functions (3,4) as well as on depression and anxiety disorders (5) . The level and pattern of PA and various health markers have been extensively studied in young and middle-aged groups, but not to the same extent in older adults (6) .…”