Abstract
Physical exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, is documented as providing a low cost regimen to counter well-documented cognitive declines including memory, executive function, visuospatial skills, and processing speed in normally aging adults. Prior aging studies focused largely on the effects of medium to long term (>6 months) exercise training; however, the shorter term effects have not been studied. In the present study, we examined changes in brain blood flow, cognition, and fitness in 37 cognitively healthy sedentary adults (57–75 years of age) who were randomized into physical training or a wait-list control group. The physical training group received supervised aerobic exercise for 3 sessions per week 1 h each for 12 weeks. Participants' cognitive, cardiovascular fitness and resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) were assessed at baseline (T1), mid (T2), and post-training (T3). We found higher resting CBF in the anterior cingulate region in the physical training group as compared to the control group from T1 to T3. Cognitive gains were manifested in the exercise group's improved immediate and delayed memory performance from T1 to T3 which also showed a significant positive association with increases in both left and right hippocampal CBF identified earlier in the time course at T2. Additionally, the two cardiovascular parameters, VO2 max and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) showed gains, compared to the control group. These data suggest that even shorter term aerobic exercise can facilitate neuroplasticity to reduce both the biological and cognitive consequences of aging to benefit brain health in sedentary adults.
Highlights
The benefits of exercise for cardiovascular function are well established (Steinhaus et al, 1988; Ades et al, 2011)
Colcombe et al (2004) found 6 months of aerobic exercise corresponded to improved cardiovascular fitness, better cognitive performance on executive function/attentional control, and increased task-related brain activity with reduced activity in the anterior cingulate
The final MRI data analyses were conducted on 18 control and 18 physical training participants for cerebral blood flow (CBF)
Summary
The benefits of exercise for cardiovascular function are well established (Steinhaus et al, 1988; Ades et al, 2011). Colcombe et al (2004) found 6 months of aerobic exercise corresponded to improved cardiovascular fitness, better cognitive performance on executive function/attentional control, and increased task-related brain activity with reduced activity in the anterior cingulate. Another investigation showed a reversal of 1–2 years from the typical hippocampal volume loss associated with aging following 1 year of aerobic training as compared to a stretching-type exercise control group (Erickson et al, 2011). In contrast to established gains for longer periods of exercise, little is known about the cognitive and brain plasticity gains possible in healthy but sedentary seniors from shorter term aerobic exercise training
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