A team of researchers at the University of Iowa has found that a single bout of aerobic exercise improves cognitive functions and working memory in older people. The findings were published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
A single bout of exercise may provide a boost to the mind. Image credit: Mabel Amber.
Recent studies have shown that a single aerobic exercise session or training can lead to improvements in memory performance and functional connectivity of memory systems.
Dr. Michelle Voss and colleagues wanted to tease out how a single session of exercise may affect older individuals.
The scientists enrolled 34 adults between 60 and 80 years of age who were healthy but not regularly active.
Each participant rode a stationary bike on two separate occasions — with light and then more strenuous resistance when pedaling — for 20 minutes.
Before and after each exercise session, each participant underwent a brain scan and completed a memory test.
In the brain scan, the researchers examined bursts of activity in regions known to be involved in the collection and sharing of memories.
In the working memory tests, each participant used a computer screen to look at a set of eight young adult faces that rotated every three seconds — flashcard style — and had to decide when a face seen two ‘cards’ previously matched the one they were currently viewing.
After a single exercise session, the authors found in some individuals increased connectivity between the medial temporal — which surrounds the brain’s memory center, the hippocampus — and the parietal cortex and prefrontal cortex, two regions involved in cognition and memory.
Those same individuals also performed better on the memory tests. Other individuals showed little to no gain.
The boost in cognition and memory from a single exercise session lasted only a short while for those who showed gains.
“The benefits can be there a lot more quickly than people think,” Dr. Voss said.
“The hope is that a lot of people will then keep it up because those benefits to the brain are temporary.”
“Understanding exactly how long the benefits last after a single session, and why some benefit more than others, are exciting directions for future research.”
The participants also engaged in regular exercise, pedaling on a stationary bike for 50 minutes three times a week for three months.
One group engaged in moderate-intensity pedaling, while another group had a mostly lighter workout in which the bike pedals moved for them.
Most individuals in the moderate and lighter-intensity groups showed mental benefits, judging by the brain scans and working memory tests given at the beginning and at the end of the three-month exercise period.
But the brain gains were no greater than the improvements from when they had exercised a single time.
“The result that a single session of aerobic exercise mimics the effects of 12 weeks of training on performance has important implications both practically and theoretically,” the researchers said.
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Michelle Voss et al. Acute Exercise Effects Predict Training Change in Cognition and Connectivity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, published online August 2, 2019; doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002115
