Effects of Acute Exercise on Memory Performance in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Etnier ◽  
Jarod C. Vance ◽  
Aiko Ueno

Numerous studies show that exercise benefits memory and some show that acute exercise prior to encoding has larger benefits than exercise after encoding. This study was designed to investigate the effects of acute exercise on memory in middle-aged and older adults (Mage = 64.71 years) and to explore the influence of the timing of the exercise on these effects. Using a within-subjects design, moderate-intensity exercise (20 min) was either not performed (control), performed before the task (exercise prior), or performed after the task (exercise post). Memory was assessed using the Rey Auditory Learning Verbal Test. For short- and long-term memory and learning, significantly more words were remembered in the exercise-prior condition than the others. For 24-hr recall, participants remembered significantly more words in the exercise-prior condition than exercise post, which was better than control. Exercise benefits memory for healthy middle-aged and older adults, with the greatest benefits when performed prior to encoding.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Stute ◽  
Nicole Hudl ◽  
Robert Stojan ◽  
Claudia Voelcker-Rehage

Numerous studies have reported the beneficial effects of acute exercise on executive functions. Less is known, however, about the effects of exercise on working memory as one subcomponent of executive functions and about its effects on older adults. We investigated the effects of acute moderate-intensity exercise on working memory performance, the respective cortical hemodynamic activation patterns, and the development and persistence of such effects in healthy older adults. Forty-four participants (M: 69.18 years ± 3.92; 21 females) performed a letter 2-back task before and at three time points after (post 15 min, post 30 min, and post 45 min) either listening to an audiobook or exercising (15 min; 50% VO2-peak). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to assess cortical hemodynamic activation and brain-behavior correlations in the fronto-parietal working memory network. Overall, we found no group differences for working memory performance. However, only within the experimental group, 2-back performance was enhanced 15 min and 45 min post-exercise. Furthermore, 15 min post-exercise frontal activation predicted working memory performance, regardless of group. In sum, our results indicate slight beneficial effects of acute moderate-intensity exercise on working memory performance in healthy older adults. Findings are discussed in light of the cognitive aging process and moderators affecting the exercise-cognition relationship.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Marin Bosch ◽  
Aurélien Bringard ◽  
Maria G. Logrieco ◽  
Estelle Lauer ◽  
Nathalie Imobersteg ◽  
...  

AbstractRegular physical exercise enhances memory functions, synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Likewise, short periods of exercise, or acute exercise, benefit hippocampal plasticity in rodents, via increased endocannabinoids (especially anandamide, AEA) and BDNF release. Yet, it remains unknown whether acute exercise has similar effects on BDNF and AEA levels in humans, with parallel influences on memory performance. Here we combined blood biomarkers, behavioral, and fMRI measurements to assess the impact of a single session of physical exercise on associative memory and underlying neurophysiological mechanisms in healthy male volunteers. For each participant, memory was tested after three conditions: rest, moderate or high intensity exercise. A long-term memory retest took place 3 months later. At both test and retest, memory performance after moderate intensity exercise was increased compared to rest. Memory after moderate intensity exercise correlated with exercise-induced increases in both AEA and BNDF levels: while AEA was associated with hippocampal activity during memory recall, BDNF enhanced hippocampal memory representations and long-term performance. These findings demonstrate that acute moderate intensity exercise benefits consolidation of hippocampal memory representations, and that endocannabinoids and BNDF signaling may contribute to the synergic modulation of underlying neural plasticity mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 435-435
Author(s):  
David Roth ◽  
Shang-En (Michelle) Chung ◽  
Kaigang Li ◽  
Abigail Nehrkorn-Bailey ◽  
Katherine Thompson ◽  
...  

Abstract This paper investigated whether the AgingPLUS program promotes physical activity in middle-aged and older adults by examining outcomes at weeks 4 and 8 with baseline scores included as covariates. The analyses assessed intervention effects on negative views of aging (NVOA), physical activity (CHAMPS), physical function (SPPB, VO2max), and accelerometry measures (e.g., minutes sedentary). We found significant intervention effects on NVOA (p < .001) and frequency of moderate intensity exercise (p = 0.048), but no significant effects on physical function, VO2max, or the accelerometry measures. Standardized effect sizes for the significant effects ranged from 0.31 to 1.03 standard deviation units. These findings suggest that AgingPLUS improved motivational factors for engaging in physical activity but did not lead to objective changes in physical activity in the short term. Further research will investigate the mediational role of these motivational factors in enhancing physical activity over the longer term (6 months).


2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (10) ◽  
pp. R1158-R1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela De Roia ◽  
Silvia Pogliaghi ◽  
Alessandra Adami ◽  
Christina Papadopoulou ◽  
Carlo Capelli

Aging is associated with a functional decline of the oxidative metabolism due to progressive limitations of both O2 delivery and utilization. Priming exercise (PE) increases the speed of adjustment of oxidative metabolism during successive moderate-intensity transitions. We tested the hypothesis that such improvement is due to a better matching of O2 delivery to utilization within the working muscles. In 21 healthy older adults (65.7 ± 5 yr), we measured contemporaneously noninvasive indexes of the overall speed of adjustment of the oxidative metabolism (i.e., pulmonary V̇o2 kinetics), of the bulk O2 delivery (i.e., cardiac output), and of the rate of muscle deoxygenation (i.e., deoxygenated hemoglobin, HHb) during moderate-intensity step transitions, either with (ModB) or without (ModA) prior PE. The local matching of O2 delivery to utilization was evaluated by the ΔHHb/ΔV̇o2 ratio index. The overall speed of adjustment of the V̇o2 kinetics was significantly increased in ModB compared with ModA ( P < 0.05). On the contrary, the kinetics of cardiac output was unaffected by PE. At the muscle level, ModB was associated with a significant reduction of the “overshoot” in the ΔHHb/ΔV̇o2 ratio compared with ModA ( P < 0.05), suggesting an improved O2 delivery. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that, in older adults, PE, prior to moderate-intensity exercise, beneficially affects the speed of adjustment of oxidative metabolism due to an acute improvement of the local matching of O2 delivery to utilization.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1319-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenmei Zhang ◽  
Jinyu Liu ◽  
Lydia Li ◽  
Hongwei Xu

Objective: This study examined the association between childhood conditions and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults in China. Method: We analyzed data from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study ( N = 11,868). Cognitive function was measured by word recall, a test of episodic memory. We examined the association between childhood conditions and cognitive function among the middle-aged (45-59 years) and the older (60 years and older) adults separately, using multilevel linear regressions. Results: Indicators of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and nutrition were significantly associated with memory performance among the middle-aged and the older adults in China. Adulthood SES, education in particular, accounted for some but not all the associations. The protective effect of childhood urban residence was stronger for middle-aged women than for middle-aged men. Discussion: Childhood conditions are significantly associated with mid- to late-life cognitive function in China. The strengths of the associations may vary by gender and cohort.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 484-487
Author(s):  
Santosh Kumar Deo ◽  
Kopila Agrawal ◽  
Prem Bhattrai ◽  
Raju Kumar Chaudhary

Introduction: Working memory is a kind of short term memory important for reasoning and guiding decision-making and behavioral process.Objective: The goal of the present research was to study the outcome of single bout of acute moderate-intensity exercise on working memory.Methodology: Twenty two male subjects were asked to perform working memory task by 2n back task in baseline resting, immediately after exercise and after five minute of exercise session. 3 minute step test procedure was used as a moderate intensity exercise intervention.Results: The percentage correctness of 2n back task of working memory was found to be 64.36% for baseline resting condition, 78.01 % for immediately after 3-minute step test and 80.70% for 5 minute after the exercise. In both exercise session (i.e. immediately after exercise and after 5 minute of exercise), significant improvement (p value <0.05) in working memory was seen as compared to the baseline resting session while no such significant beneficial improvement was seen when compared between immediately after exercise and after 5 minute of exercise.Conclusion: Improvement in working memory after moderate exercise intervention was seen, which is important for learning and memory and decision-making.  BJHS 2018;3(2)6:484-487.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breanna Wade ◽  
Paul Loprinzi

Emerging work suggests that acute, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise may help to subserve episodic memory of neutral stimuli. Less investigated, however, is whether acute exercise is associated with enhanced memory recognition of emotional stimuli, which was the purpose of this experiment. A parallel-group randomized controlled experiment was employed. Participants (mean age = 20 yr) were randomized into an exercise (n = 17) or control group (n = 17). The exercise group engaged in a 15-min bout of moderate-intensity treadmill walking. Emotional memory recognition was assessed via images from the International Affective Picture System, including assessments of varying degrees of valence and arousal. Memory recognition was assessed at 1 day, 7 days, and 14 days post-memory encoding. We observed a significant main effect for time (F(2) = 104.2, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.77) and a significant main effect for valence–arousal classification (F(4) = 21.39, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.40), but there was no significant time by group interaction (F(2) = 1.09, p = 0.34, η2p = 0.03), classification by group interaction (F(4) = 0.12, p = 0.97, η2p = 0.01), time by classification interaction (F(8) = 1.78, p = 0.08, η2p = 0.05), or time by classification by group interaction (F(8) = 0.78, p = 0.62, η2p = 0.02). In conclusion, emotional memory recognition decreased over the 14-day follow-up period and this rate of memory decay was not altered by acute moderate-intensity exercise engagement. We discuss these findings in the context of exercise intensity and the temporal effects of exercise.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-315
Author(s):  
Cornelius Coli ◽  
Gadis Meinar Sari ◽  
Purwo Sri Rejeki

This study aims to analyze acute moderate intensity exercise decreases oxygen saturation in obese women. True experiment with a randomized control group design posttest-only design using 14 obese women aged 19-24 years, body mass index 27-33 kg/m2, percentage body fat (PBF) above 30 % and fasting blood glucose (FBG) below 100 mg/dL, normal hemoglobin, normal systolic and diastolic blood pressure, normal resting heart rate and randomly divided into two groups, namely CON (n=7, control without intervention) and MIE (n=7, moderate intensity exercise). Moderate intensity exercise interventions carried out for 40 minutes using a treadmill. Blood sampling is done 10 minutes after the intervention. Measurement of oxygen saturation using a Pulse Oximeter. The results obtained mean oxygen saturation at CON (98.428±0.534) % and MIE (96.571±0.975) % (p=0.001). Based on the results of the study concluded that moderate moderate intensity acute exercise reduces oxygen saturation in obese women.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea M. Bartsch ◽  
Vanessa M. Loaiza ◽  
Lutz Jäncke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer ◽  
Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock

AbstractMaintenance of information in working memory (WM) is assumed to rely on refreshing and elaboration, but clear mechanistic descriptions of these cognitive processes are lacking, and it is unclear whether they are simply two labels for the same process. This fMRI study investigated the extent to which refreshing, elaboration, and repeating of items in WM are distinct neural processes with dissociable behavioral outcomes in WM and long-term memory (LTM). Multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data revealed differentiable neural signatures for these processes, which we also replicated in an independent sample of older adults. In some cases, the degree of neural separation within an individual predicted their memory performance. Elaboration improved LTM, but not WM, and this benefit increased as its neural signature became more distinct from repetition. Refreshing had no impact on LTM, but did improve WM, although the neural discrimination of this process was not predictive of the degree of improvement. These results demonstrate that refreshing and elaboration are separate processes that differently contribute to memory performance.HighlightsRepeated reading, refreshing, and elaboration are differentiable in brain activation patterns in both young and older adults.Elaboration selectively improved long-term memory for young adults, and the size of the benefit was related to the neural separability of elaboration from other processes.Older adults implemented a sub-optimal form of elaboration, and this may be a factor contributing to age-related deficits in long-term memory.Ethics statementThe study was approved by the ethical review board of the canton of Zurich (BASEC-No. 2017-00190) and all subjects gave informed written consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Data and code availability statementAll behavioral data and analysis scripts can be assessed on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/p2h8b/). The fMRI data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, LMB. The fMRI data are not publicly available due to restrictions of the Swiss Ethics Committees on research involving humans regarding data containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Serviente ◽  
Amy Burnside ◽  
Sarah Witkowski

Endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Risk factors for CVD increase with menopause, and greater cardiorespiratory fitness is generally expected to reduce CVD risk. The effects of habitual physical activity on endothelial health may be due in part to the effect of acute exercise on circulating EMPs. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of an acute bout of exercise on CD62E+ and CD31+/42b− EMPs in healthy fit midlife women at different menopausal stages. Healthy, active premenopausal (PRE), perimenopausal (PERI), and postmenopausal (POST) women completed a single bout of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise. Activated (CD62E+) and apoptotic (CD31+/42b−) EMPs were evaluated before and 30 min after exercise by using fluorescent activated cell sorting. In an exploratory analysis, these results were compared with data from low-fit peri- and postmenopausal women. Differences by group and time point were evaluated with repeated-measure ANOVAs. There was a reduction in the number of total microparticles ( P < 0.001), CD62E+ ( P = 0.003), and CD31+/42b− ( P < 0.001) EMPs/μl plasma following acute exercise. The percentage of CD62E+ EMPs increased with acute exercise ( P < 0.001), whereas the percentage of CD31+/42b− EMPs did not change ( P = 0.40). There was no effect of menopausal status on CD62E+or CD31+/42b− EMPs, or on total microparticles (all P > 0.05). The exploratory analysis revealed that low-fit women had similar changes in EMPs with acute exercise. We concluded that acute moderate-intensity exercise reduces CD62E+and CD31+/42b− EMPs, as well as total microparticles, in healthy midlife women. These effects occurred despite differences in menopausal status and fitness. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates that acute moderate-intensity exercise reduces activated and apoptotic endothelial microparticles in healthy midlife women.


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