WHO Recommended Structured Physical Activity Intervention Improves Psychomotor Speed And Neuro-cognitive Functions In Adolescent Students.

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PURPOSE: To study the effect of six months of structured and unstructured physical activity interventions on psychomotor speed and neuro-cognitive functions in adolescents. METHODS: In our randomized, single blinded, parallel group, active controlled trial (CTRI/2013/08/003897) the recruited healthy school student volunteers, aged 12 - 17 years (n = 439), were allocated into Structured Physical Activity (SPA) and Unstructured Physical Activity (USPA) intervention groups by age and gender stratified block randomization. SPA designed as per World Health Organization (WHO) Physical Activity Guidelines for children and youth, and USPA which included any indoor or outdoor recreational activity of the participant’s choice, were administered by physical education instructors for two hours a day, six times a week, for six months. Auditory and visual reaction times (ART and VRT), Letter Cancellation test (LCT), Trail Making test A and B (TTA and TTB), Ruff Figural Fluency test (RFFT) were recorded pre and post intervention that was successfully completed by 347 participants. Data analysis was done by an investigator blinded to the allocation sequence using student ‘t’ tests by following per-protocol analysis (SPA n = 172 and USPA n = 175). RESULTS: LCT and TTB times (seconds) were significantly reduced in structured physical activity group [(LCT - USPA: 105.33 ± 19.54 vs. 104.61 ± 15.22, p = 0.528; SPA: 107.08 ± 21.87 vs. 100.03 ± 18.12, p = < 0.001) (TTB - USPA: 93.19 ± 21.88 vs. 88.50 ± 18.29, p = < 0.001, SPA: 94.31 ± 26.61 vs. 87.44 ± 20.27, p = < 0.001)]. TTA time was not significantly altered in both the groups. VRT and ART (milliseconds) were significantly reduced in both the groups however the improvement was better in structured physical activity group [(VRT - USPA: 212.54 ± 29.88 vs. 192.10 ± 25.26, p = < 0.001, effect size = 0.76; SPA: 214.36 ± 31.09 vs. 187.23 ± 28.31, p = < 0.001, effect size = 0.87) (ART - USPA: 187.65 ± 19.29 vs. 175.15 ± 19.31, p = < 0.001, effect size = 0.65; SPA: 188.54 ± 23.71 vs. 169.61 ± 22.79, p = < 0.001, effect size = 0.79)]. CONCLUSION: Structuring the physical training intervention (as per WHO guidelines) in a cognitively engaging manner leads to greater improvements in psychomotor speed and neuro-cognitive executive functions of adolescents, probably due to cognitive loading and contextual interference.