Abstract
[Purpose]This study was to investigate the impacts of senior brain heath exercise (SBHE) program for 12 weeks to basic active physical fitness, cognitive function and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in elderly women.[Methods]Subject of this study is total of 24 women in the age of 65-79 who can conduct normal daily activity and communication but have not participated in regular exercise in recent 6 months. The study groups were divided into an exercise group (EG, n=13) and a control group (CG, n=11). The exercise program was consisted of SBHE, and training frequency was 4 times weekly, of which training time was a total of 50 minutes each time in level of intensity of 9-14 by rating of perceived exertion (RPE).[Results]First, 12-week SBHE program has shown statistical increase in basic physical fitness in the EG comparing with the CG, such as lower body strength, upper body strength and aerobic endurance, but not in flexibility, agility and dynamic balance. Second, in the case of Mini-mental state examination Korean version (MMSE-K) and BDNF, it showed that there was a statistically significant increase in the EG comparing with the CG.[Conclusion]In this study, 12-week SBHE program has resulted in positive effect on change of basic physical fitness (strength and aerobic endurance), cognitive function and BDNF. If above program adds movements that can enhance flexibility, dynamic balance and agility, this can be practical exercise program to help seniors maintain overall healthy lifestyle.
Highlights
Aging is the process emerged by accumulated harmful changes in terms of physical and physiological aspects during entire life[1,2]
Ultimate purpose of senior brain heath exercise (SBHE) program development done in this study was improvement of cognitive function based on improvement of effective physical fitness
This study was conducted to find out the effect of exercise on physical fitness, cognitive function and brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNFs) by applying the 12week SBHE program to the 65-79 year-old elderlies, in order to verify feasibility of exercise program for largescale geriatric study
Summary
Aging is the process emerged by accumulated harmful changes in terms of physical and physiological aspects during entire life[1,2]. Environmental factors and lifestyle become to influence process of aging alongside with functional changes due to biological effect[3]. The elderlies become to experience decrease in amount of physical and social activities due to these physical, physiological and cognitive changes. The female elderlies in particular show higher frequency of chronic diseases with decrease in mobility and daily activities compared to male elderlies[4], which requires improvement of life style in order to solve health problems in female elderlies. The aging effect in particular is related to dementia with cognitive disorder[5], Recently prevalence of which in South Korea has consistently increased and been reported as higher in women compared to men[6]
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