Acute High-intensity Exercise Research Articles

Effects of two types of distractions on ratings of perceived exertion and affective response during acute high-intensity cycling exercise for fair cardiorespiratory fitness level in men

Effects of two types of distractions on ratings of perceived exertion and affective response during acute high-intensity cycling exercise for fair cardiorespiratory fitness level in men

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Does Not Attenuate Arterial Stiffening Following Acute High-Intensity Resistance Exercise

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Does Not Attenuate Arterial Stiffening Following Acute High-Intensity Resistance Exercise

Impact of exercise and fasting on mitochondrial regulators in human muscle

Abstract Objectives To investigate the impact of acute energetic stress (acute HIIE and fasting) on ERRγ, PPARβ, NR1D1, NR4A1, and TFEB in human skeletal muscle. Methods The current study performed secondary analyses using muscle biopsy samples from two previously published studies: study 1) leg muscle biopsies from nine men and eight women were obtained pre and 3 h following acute high-intensity interval cycling exercise (HIIE); study 2) leg muscle biopsies were obtained from nine men pre-, during, and post-an 8 h fast with or without 2 h of arm ergometer exercise. RT-PCR was performed on samples from each study to determine the mRNA expression of ERRγ, PPARβ, NR1D1, NR4A1, and TFEB. Additionally, we retrieved data from meta-analyzed human muscle gene expression using the publicly available database MetaMex. Results PGC-1α (p<0.01, d=1.98) and NR4A1 (p<0.01, d=1.36) mRNA expression significantly increased while TFEB (p≤0.05, d=0.70) decreased following HIIE. Significant decreases in NR4A1 and NR1D1 mRNA expression were observed following an 8 h fast. Our MetaMex analyses revealed significant increases (p<0.05) in PGC-1α and NR4A1 expression following aerobic and resistance exercise, and in PPARβ expression following resistance exercise. Conclusions Our data indicate that acute HIIE stimulates increases in NR4A1 and PGC-1α and decreases in TFEB mRNA expression in human skeletal muscle. Additionally, a short term (8 h) fast reduced the mRNA expression of the transcriptional regulators NR4A1 and NR1D1 – potentially as a mechanism of decreasing mitochondrial biogenesis to reduce energy expenditure during a period of restricted energy availability.

Intracerebroventricular administration of the exercise hormone irisin or acute strenuous exercise alleviates epileptic seizure-induced neuroinflammation and improves memory dysfunction in rats

BackgroundStatus epilepticus is a common and potentially life-threatening neurological emergency with a high risk for cognitive and neurobiological impairment. Our aim was to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of centrally administered irisin and acute exhausting exercise against oxidative brain injury and memory dysfunction due to a pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced single seizure. Male Sprague Dawley rats with intracerebroventricular (icv) cannulas were randomly divided into intraperitoneally (ip) saline-injected control and PTZ-injected (45 mg/kg) seizure groups. Both the control and PTZ groups were then treated with irisin (7.5 µg/kg, 2 µl, icv), saline (2 µl, icv) or were forced to an acute bout of strenuous exercise before the ip injection of saline (control) or PTZ. Seizures were evaluated using the Racine score. To evaluate memory performance, a passive avoidance test was performed before and after PTZ injection. Following euthanasia at the 24th hour of seizure induction, brain tissues were removed for histopathological examination and for evaluating oxidative damage, antioxidant capacity, and neurotransmitter levels.ResultsGlutamate/GABA imbalance observed in PTZ rats was corrected by irisin administration (p < 0.001/p < 0.01), while irisin prevented the generation of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation (p < 0.05 − 0.001) and replenished the antioxidant catalase and glutathione levels (p < 0.01–0.01) in the cerebral tissue, and reduced the histologically evident neuronal injury due to a single seizure (p < 0.05 − 0.01). Irisin also delayed the onset of seizures (p < 0.05) and improved memory dysfunction (p < 0.05), but did not affect the severity of seizures. The acute exhaustive swimming exercise completed before PTZ-seizure depressed glutamate level (p < 0.001), maintained the oxidant/antioxidant balance, alleviated neuronal injury (p < 0.05 − 0.01) and upregulated cerebral BDNF expression (p < 0.05).ConclusionIn conclusion, acute high-intensity exercise or exogenously administered irisin provides neuroprotection by maintaining the balance of excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmitters and oxidant/antioxidant systems.

A study on the impact of acute exercise on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment patients: A narrative review

This narrative review follows the JBI approach and comprehensively explores the effects and mechanisms of acute exercise on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. The results showed that the combination of acute exercise and cognitive training improved the cognitive function of AD patients better than aerobic exercise or resistance training alone. For patients with MCI, moderate intensity acute aerobic exercise and resistance exercise were beneficial to enhance Inhibitory control (IC), but high-intensity acute exercise was adverse to improve IC; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) may assume the potential mediating mechanism of acute exercise on cognitive function in AD and MCI patients, but more research is needed to further confirm this mechanism.

Cycle-based high-intensity sprint exercise elicits acute cognitive dysfunction in psychomotor and memory task performance

PurposeTo examine the impact of an acute high-intensity sprint exercise protocol (HISEP) for eliciting post-exercise cognitive dysfunction in psychomotor, attentional, executive, and memory tasks.MethodsTwenty-four recreationally active adults (22 ± 4 yrs, 169.39 ± 10.07 cm, 75.80 ± 14.73 kg, 27.03 ± 9.55 BF%) performed a HISEP on a cycle ergometer. Average psychomotor reaction time (avgRT; Dynavision D2 Mode A &amp;amp; Mode B), mood (Profile of Mood States Questionnaire; POMS), and cognition (Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics; ANAM) were assessed pre- (PRE), post- (POST) and 60-min post (60POST) HISEP. One-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess changes across time.ResultsFatigue (main effect: p &amp;lt; 0.001, ηp2 = 0.309) was significantly higher at POST compared to PRE (p = 0.007). Tension (main effect: p = 0.021, ηp2 = 0.154) was significantly lower at 60POST compared to PRE (p = 0.029). Mode A avgRT (main effect: p = 0.022, ηp2 = 0.153) was significantly slower at POST compared to PRE (p = 0.026). Throughput (TP) scores for ANAM code substitution-delayed (CSD) task (main effect: p &amp;lt; 0.001, ηp2 = 0.284) and matching to sample (M2S) tasks (main effect: p = 0.014, ηp2 = 0.169) were significantly lower at POST compared to PRE (p = 0.001 and p = 0.025, respectively), while mathematical processing (main effect: p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.232) was significantly higher at 60POST compared to both PRE (p = 0.019) and POST (p = 0.005). No other significant changes in cognitive task performance were observed (p's &amp;gt; 0.05).ConclusionsThe HISEP is a feasible and time-effective fatiguing exercise stimulus capable of eliciting acute cognitive dysfunction in psychomotor and memory task performance. NCT05100589.

Effects of acute aerobic exercise on resting state functional connectivity of motor cortex in college students

This study intends to inspect the effects of acute aerobic exercise (AE) on resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in motor cortex of college students and the moderating effect of fitness level. Methods: 20 high fitness level college students and 20 ordinary college students were recruited in public. Subjects completed 25 min of moderate- and high-intensity acute aerobic exercise respectively by a bicycle ergometer, and the motor cortex’s blood oxygen signals in resting state were monitored by functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS, the Shimadzu portable Light NIRS, Japan) in pre- and post-test. Results: At the moderate intensity level, the total mean value of RSFC pre- and post-test was significantly different in the high fitness level group (pre-test 0.62 ± 0.18, post-test 0.51 ± 0.17, t(19) = 2.61, p = 0.02, d = 0.58), but no significant change was found in the low fitness level group. At the high-intensity level, there was no significant difference in the difference of total RSFC between pre- and post-test in the high and low fitness group. According to and change trend of 190 “edges”: at the moderate-intensity level, the number of difference edges in the high fitness group (d = 0.58, 23) were significantly higher than those in the low fitness group (d = 0.32, 15), while at high-intensity level, there was a reverse trend between the high fitness group (d = 0.25, 18) and the low fitness group (d = 0.39, 23). Conclusions: moderate-intensity AE can cause significant changes of RSFC in the motor cortex of college students with high fitness, while high fitness has a moderating effect on the relationship between exercise intensity and RSFC. RSFC of people with high fitness is more likely to be affected by AE and show a wider range of changes.

Decreased pancreatic amylase activity after acute high-intensity exercise and its effects on post-exercise muscle glycogen recovery.

Our prior results showed that an acute bout of endurance exercise for 6h, but not 1h, decreased pancreatic amylase activity, indicating that acute endurance exercise may affect carbohydrate digestive capacity in an exercise duration-dependent manner. Here, we investigated the effects of acute endurance exercise of different intensities on mouse pancreatic amylase activity. Male C57BL/6J mice performed low- or high-intensity running exercise for 60min at either 10 (Ex-Low group) or 20m/min (Ex-High group). The control group comprised sedentary mice. Immediately after acute exercise, pancreatic amylase activity was significantly decreased in the Ex-High group and not the Ex-Low group in comparison with the control group. To determine whether the decreased amylase activity induced by high-intensity exercise influenced muscle glycogen recovery after exercise, we investigated the rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis in Ex-High group mice administered either oral glucose or starch solution (2.0mg/g body weight) immediately after exercise. The starch-fed mice exhibited significantly lower post-exercise glycogen accumulation rates in the 2-h recovery period compared with the glucose-fed mice. This difference in the glycogen accumulation rate was absent for starch- and glucose-fed mice in the sedentary (no exercise) control group. Furthermore, the plasma glucose AUC during early post-exercise recovery (0-60min) was significantly lower in the starch-fed mice than in the glucose-fed mice. Thus, our findings suggest that acute endurance exercise diminishes the carbohydrate digestive capacity of the pancreas in a manner dependent on exercise intensity, with polysaccharides leading to delayed muscle glycogen recovery after exercise.

Exercise-Dependent Modulation of Immunological Response Pathways in Endurance Athletes With and Without Atrial Fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia characterized by uncoordinated atrial electrical activity. Lone AF occurs in the absence of traditional risk factors and is frequently observed in male endurance athletes, who face a 2- to 5-fold higher risk of AF compared with healthy, moderately active males. Our understanding of how endurance exercise contributes to the pathophysiology of lone AF remains limited. This study aimed to characterize the circulating protein fluctuations during high-intensity exercise as well as explore potential biomarkers of exercise-associated AF. A prospective cohort of 12 male endurance cyclists between the ages of 40 and 65 years, 6 of whom had a history of exercise-associated AF, were recruited to participate using a convenience sampling method. The circulating proteome was subsequently analyzed using multiplex immunoassays and aptamer-based proteomics before, during, and after an acute high-intensity endurance exercise bout to assess temporality and identify potential markers of AF. The endurance exercise bout resulted in significant alterations to proteins involved in immune modulation (eg, growth/differentiation factor 15), skeletal muscle metabolism (eg, α-actinin-2), cell death (eg, histones), and inflammation (eg, interleukin-6). Subjects with AF differed from those without, displaying modulation of proteins previously known to have associations with incident AF (eg, C-reactive protein, insulin-like growth factor-1, and angiopoietin-2), and also with proteins having no previous association (eg, tapasin-related protein and α2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein). These findings provide insights into the proteomic response to acute intense exercise, provide mechanistic insights into the pathophysiology behind AF in athletes, and identify targets for future study and validation.

High-intensity acute exercise impacts motor learning in healthy older adults

Healthy aging is associated with changes in motor sequence learning, with some studies indicating decline in motor skill learning in older age. Acute cardiorespiratory exercise has emerged as a potential intervention to improve motor learning, however research in healthy older adults is limited. The current study investigated the impact of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIT) on a subsequent sequential motor learning task. Twenty-four older adults (aged 55–75 years) completed either 20-minutes of cycling, or an equivalent period of active rest before practicing a sequential force grip task. Skill learning was assessed during acquisition and at a 6-hour retention test. In contrast to expectation, exercise was associated with reduced accuracy during skill acquisition compared to rest, particularly for the oldest participants. However, improvements in motor skill were retained in the exercise condition, while a reduction in skill was observed following rest. Our findings indicate that high-intensity exercise conducted immediately prior to learning a novel motor skill may have a negative impact on motor performance during learning in older adults. We also demonstrated that exercise may facilitate early offline consolidation of a motor skill within this population, which has implications for motor rehabilitation.

Effects of active video gaming on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in university students

Background and Study Aim. Many findings have demonstrated that several life-threatening diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, obesity-related diseases, and certain types of malignancies, can be prevented by exercise. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be the direct or associated factor that causes or prevents these diseases. It is well known that a strenuous and high-intensity acute exercise increases ROS production and intensifies oxidative stress. At this point, the importance of physical activity (PA) and exercise in reducing oxidants and improving antioxidant defense system increasing. The purposes of the current study were to investigate the short term (acute) and long term (chronic) effects of active video gaming (AVG) on oxidative stress indices. Material and Methods. Nine healthy male university students participated in the study. The participants played an AVG as vigorous physical activity (MET &gt; 7) for 20 minutes, three days a week, for 4 weeks. Each participant completed twelve game sessions. Blood samples were obtained just before (after 10 min rest in seated position) and immediately after the game session on the first and the last day of the study. Total oxidant and antioxidant status (TOS and TAS) were determined using an automated measurement method, and the oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. Total oxidized guanine (TOG) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were analyzed using commercial kits (Cayman Chemical). Data were analyzed with dependent t-tests and significance was accepted as p&lt;0.05. Results. The SOD activity significantly decreased after the AVG on the first day (4.78 ± 1.26 vs. 3.81 ± 1.80; p=0.026). The TOS (6.62 ± 1.09 vs. 7.30 ± 1.24) and TOG (9.26 ± 2.69 vs. 9.78 ± 2.62) levels increased on the first day, but these alterations were not significant. Additionally, no significant acute changes were observed for the last day of the study Conclusions. The 4-week active video gaming practices did not change the oxidative stress status of pre-game, chronically. Four-week-AVG practice did not change oxidative stress indices significantly in rest.

Glucose tolerance status associates with improvements in cognitive function following high-intensity exercise in adults with obesity

PurposeObesity, insulin resistance (IR), and proinflammatory cytokines associate with cognitive decline. Numerous studies document cognitive benefits of acute exercise bouts in lean individuals. However, how co-morbidities such as obesity and IR influence cognitive changes induced by acute exercise is unclear. We examined the effects of acute high-intensity aerobic exercise on cognitive function in age-matched and BMI-matched obese adults with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and in lean, NGT adults. Methods49 adults (15 Lean, 18 Obese-NGT, 16 Obese-IGT) performed one session of high-intensity interval exercise (four cycles of 4-min at 75% Wmax with 3-min rest). Cognitive function testing and blood sampling were performed pre- and post-exercise. ResultsFollowing exercise, measurements of executive function and working memory were improved in Lean and Obese-NGT (p < 0.05), but not Obese-IGT. Changes in cognitive function following exercise negatively correlated with 2-hr glucose during an OGTT after controlling for body weight and body composition (rp = -0.40, p = 0.007). Serum levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and CRP remained increased 60-minutes post-exercise in Obese-IGT, but not in Lean or Obese-NGT, which positively associated with 2-hr glucose during an OGTT (p < 0.01) and negatively with changes in cognitive function following exercise (p < 0.01). Greater insulin levels in Obese-IGT post-exercise also negatively correlated with changes in cognitive function following exercise (p < 0.01). ConclusionImprovements in cognition following acute high-intensity exercise positively associate with glucose tolerance, independent of body weight and body composition. Further, poorer changes in cognitive performance following exercise associate with persistent peripheral inflammation.

The effect of acute exercise on objectively measured sleep and cognition in older adults.

Exercise can improve cognition in aging, however it is unclear how exercise influences cognition, and sleep may partially explain this association. The current study aimed to investigate whether objectively measured sleep mediates the effect of an acute exercise intervention on cognition in older adults. Participants were 30 cognitively unimpaired, physically active older adults (69.2 ± 4.3 years) with poor sleep (determined via self-report). After a triple baseline cognitive assessment to account for any natural fluctuation in cognitive performance, participants completed either a single bout of 20-minutes of high intensity exercise on a cycle ergometer, or a control condition, in a cross-over trial design. Cognition was measured immediately post-intervention and the following day, and sleep (total sleep time, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, % of rapid eye movement sleep, light sleep and deep sleep) was characterized using WatchPAT™ at baseline (5 nights) and measured for one night after both exercise and control conditions. Results showed no effect of the exercise intervention on cognition immediately post-intervention, nor an effect of acute exercise on any sleep variable. There was no mediating effect of sleep on associations between exercise and cognition. However, a change from baseline to post-intervention in light sleep and deep sleep did predict change in episodic memory at the ~24 h post-intervention cognitive assessment, regardless of intervention condition. There was no effect of acute high intensity exercise on sleep or cognition in the current study. However, results suggest that associations between sleep and cognition may exist independently of exercise in our sample. Further research is required, and such studies may aid in informing the most effective lifestyle interventions for cognitive health.

Effects of an Acute High Intensity Exercise Bout on Retention of Explicit, Strategic Locomotor Learning in Individuals With Chronic Stroke

Background Exercise priming, pairing high intensity exercise with a motor learning task, improves retention of upper extremity tasks in individuals after stroke, but has shown no benefit to locomotor learning. This difference may relate to the type of learning studied. Upper extremity studies used explicit, strategic tasks; locomotor studies used implicit sensorimotor adaptation (split-belt treadmill). Since walking is an important rehabilitation goal, it is crucial to understand under which circumstances exercise priming may improve retention of a newly learned walking pattern. Objective Determine the impact of exercise priming on explicit, strategic locomotor learning task retention in chronic stroke survivors. Methods Chronic stroke survivors (>6 months) performed 2 treadmill walking sessions. Visual feedback was used to train increased step length. Participants were assigned to control group (no exercise), continuous exercise (5 minutes high intensity), or long-interval exercise (15 minutes high/moderate intervals). After day 1 learning, participants either rested or performed exercise. On day 2, retention of the learned walking pattern was tested. Results All groups learned on day 1 (P < .001). The 2 priming groups showed significant changes in blood lactate and heart rate after exercise priming, the resting control group did not (P < .001). On day 2, there was no significant between-group difference in cued or un-cued task retention (P = .963 and .287, respectively). Conclusions Exercise priming did not affect retention of an explicit locomotor task in chronic stroke survivors. Further work should explore subgroups of individuals for whom priming may have selective clinical benefit to locomotor learning. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03726047

The Effect of Menstrual-Cycle Phase on Immune Responses to a 5-km Cycling Time Trial: An Exploratory Study.

Exercise has transient effects on the immune system that could influence infection risk and tissue recovery after exercise. Little is known about how the menstrual cycle interacts with the immune responses to acute exercise. This exploratory study sought to evaluate the effect of menstrual-cycle phase on peripheral blood mononuclear cell counts before and immediately after a bout of intense aerobic exercise. Seven naturally menstruating women (age: 27 [3]y) completed three 5-km cycling time trials coinciding with the early-follicular, late-follicular, and mid-luteal stage, confirmed by hormonal measurement. Venous blood samples were taken and examined for the presence of immune cell types using flow cytometry. Reductions in circulating CCR7+CD45RA+ naïve CD4+ T cells, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, and CD56+CD57+ natural killer cells observed during the early-follicular phase were attenuated when exercise was performed during the late-follicular phase. Similarly, reductions in circulating CD56+CD57+ natural killer cells and CD14+TLR4+ monocytes following exercise in the early-follicular phase were abolished when exercise was performed in the midluteal phase. These preliminary findings indicate that the effect of acute high-intensity exercise on immune-cell mobilization and activation varies across the menstrual cycle, potentially impacting the anti-inflammatory effects of regulatory T cells and the cell-mediated effects of both natural killer CD57+ cells and monocytes expressing TLR4.

Response of TNF-α Levels and Blood Glucose Levels after Acute High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise in Overweight Women

Sedentary behavior is a lifestyle that plays a role in the pathophysiology of obesity or overweight. TNF-α is an inflammatory cytokine that can affect glucose metabolism and can trigger insulin resistance. Acute HIIE is exercise with alternating periods of high-intensity exercise and periods of active recovery. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes of TNF-α and blood glucose levels after acute HIIE in overweight women. Subjects were overweight women, divided into 2 groups (K1=control group and K2=experimental group; n=7) with a body mass index between 23.00 and up to 24.99 kg/m2. The acute protocol of HIIE with ergocycle consisted of a 3-minute warm-up (starting at 40 rpm), core exercise for 60 s at 80%-90% of HRmax, interspersed with 60 s of active recovery (40 rpm), and cool-down for 2 minutes. The pre-test was performed before treatment and the post-test was performed 60 minutes after treatment. Serum TNF-α levels were measured by the human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Blood glucose levels were taken by finger prick. The result showed that the change of TNF-α (the difference of pre and post) was a significant decrease in the K1 and K2 group (p&lt;0.05), and the K2 group less decrease compared to K1. Blood glucose was significant in the K1 group (p&lt;0.05). This study can be concluded that the TNF-α level is unchanged and the blood glucose levels is increase in overweight women with sedentary behavior performing acute HIIE. Keywords: Interval exercise; TNF-α; Glucose; Overweight; sedentary lifestyle

Effect of acute high-intensity intermittent exercise on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations.

This study aimed to examine changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations after exhaustive high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) and non-exhaustive HIIE, and to compare the two conditions. Eight healthy male college students (age: 22±1 year) participated in exhaustive (sets: 6-7) and non-exhaustive (sets: 5) HIIE. In both conditions, participants repeated sets of 20 seconds of exercise at 170% V̇O<inf>2</inf>max with 10 seconds of rest between sets. Serum BDNF was measured 8 times in each condition: 30 minutes after resting, 10 minutes after sitting, immediately after HIIE, and 5, 10, 30, 60, and 90 minutes after main exercise. Changes in serum BDNF concentrations over time and between measurement points in both conditions were measured using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Serum BDNF concentrations were measured, revealing significant interaction between two factors (conditions and measurement points) (F=3.482, P=0.027). In the exhaustive HIIE, there were significant increases at 5 minutes (P<0.01) and 10 minutes (P<0.01) after exercise compared to after resting. In the non-exhaustive HIIE, there was a significant increase immediately after (P<0.01) and 5 minutes after (P<0.01) exercise compared to resting. Comparison of the serum BDNF concentrations at each measurement point showed a significant difference at 10 minutes after exercise, with significantly higher values for the exhaustive HIIE condition (P<0.01, r=0.60). Exhaustive and non-exhaustive HIIE are time-efficient exercises that increase serum BDNF concentrations in healthy adults.

The Effects of Acute Resistance Exercise on Memory, Processing Speed, and Mood State After a Cognitive Challenge.

Venezia, AC, Barney, P, Spagnoli, D, Greco-Hiranaka, C, Piepmeier, AT, Smith, JC, and Weiss, LR. The effects of acute resistance exercise on memory, processing speed, and mood state after a cognitive challenge. J Strength Cond Res 37(9): 1738-1745, 2023-Acute moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise has been shown to improve learning and memory, but the effectiveness of acute high-intensity resistance exercise for improving memory is not fully understood. Like acute aerobic exercise, acute resistance exercise increases arousal and circulating catecholamines, mechanisms suggested to mediate the memory-enhancing effects of acute exercise. Furthermore, although acute exercise has been shown to benefit mood state, it is unknown if high-intensity resistance exercise positively influences mood state after a cognitive challenge. In this within-subjects design, subjects (18- to 25-year-old men) completed an approximately 40-minute session of resistance exercise or seated rest. Immediately after, the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) Code Substitution (CS)-Learning, CS-Immediate Recognition, and CS-Delayed Recognition tasks were completed, followed by the ANAM Mood Scale. There were no significant effects of exercise on recognition memory; however, CS-Learning (attention and processing speed) was better after resistance exercise ( p = 0.03). After the cognitive challenge, restlessness ( p < 0.001), vigor ( p = 0.03), and depression ( p = 0.047) scores were higher after resistance exercise compared with rest; however, after false discovery rate correction, only restlessness remained significantly different between sessions ( q = 0.002), whereas vigor ( q = 0.09) and depression ( q = 0.09) did not. These results suggest that an acute bout of resistance exercise improves attention and processing speed, although it does not improve recognition memory and has mixed effects on mood state in college-aged men.

Do executive function performance, gaze behavior, and pupil size change during incremental acute physical exercise?

Several studies have investigated the interaction between acute physical exercise and cognitive performance. However, few studies have investigated this issue during acute high-intensity exercise. In the present study, we evaluated executive functions (EFs) during incremental exercise in three different intensities [below lactate threshold (LT), at LT, and above LT], measuring EFs performance, gaze behavior, and pupil diameter. Twenty subjects were familiarized with the EFs test and participated in a graded maximal exercise test on a cycle ergometer on the first visit. On the second visit, they performed the EFs task at rest and while exercising at three different intensities using mobile eye-tracking glasses. Our results showed that the psychophysiological measures differed between the conditions. Regarding EFs performance, during exercise above LT, the subjects showed worse accuracy when compared with rest (p < .001) and below LT (p < .001). In addition, the response time (RT) at LT and above LT was shorter than in the rest condition (p < .050). Further, RT was faster (p=.002) in the above LT than in the below LT condition. In addition, the gaze behavior measures indicated that exercise, independently of the intensity, improves the number of fixations with shorter fixation durations compared to the rest condition (p < .050). Additionally, we found no significant differences in average and peak pupil diameter between conditions. In conclusion, exercise at LT improves the EFs performance while exercising above LT worsens EFs performance. However, there were no significant differences in average and peak pupil diameter between conditions.

Acute High-Intensity Exercise Reduces Performance Anxiety: A Pilot Study in Wind Musicians

Acute High-Intensity Exercise Reduces Performance Anxiety: A Pilot Study in Wind Musicians