Physical Activity Affects Cognitive Performance

Participation in physical activity has been shown to have many health benefits for older adults; this study does not provide strong support that it protects against cognitive decline. Reports have been made that physical activity may help guard against stroke and coronary heart disease, both of which may be associated with the development of dementia. Some studies were either limited in their scope or had short follow-up times. In all they find that for older adults, physical activity alone may not protect against cognitive decline. (By Charnicia E. Huggins: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/exerciseforseniors.html)

The oldest group were much less likely than younger people to be exercising to keep fit, relieve stress/relax, keep in shape or lose weight but instead more likely to be taking part for enjoyment and social aspects or because it helps with an injury/disability

Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2015) state that there is research showing how brain plasticity can be enhanced through aerobic exercise (p.51). It is important that adults be active in their lives. A 30-minute walk or some type of physical activity will benefit them as the age. The text mentions a study done by Erickson and his colleagues in 2009 where they studied the effect of aerobic exercise on the hippocampus. They found that due to aerobic exercise it produced greater volume in the hippocampus. This is significant because the hippocampus is the part of the brain that is responsible for memory, emotions, and spatial functioning. The body does not only need physical activities to produce healthier cognitive functioning but also nutrients. The text identifies three nutrient biomarker patterns that are significant on the aging brain. These nutrients are vitamin B, C,D, and E, omega-3, and trans fat. the foods that belong to these nutrients are beneficial to the brain. Older adults should make an effort to include these nutrients into their diets. positive impacts these nutrients make are better cognitive functioning and greater brain

The aim of this study is to improve memory, focus, and problem solving skills and improving individuals IQ. With regular participation, all these factors can be exceptionally enhanced. Along with mental exercise, physical exercise is an important element to have healthy cognitive function. The researchers used a randomized sampling method amongst the old age population. Randomization was done in a 1:1 allocation ratio, stratified by education level. Authorized study centre personnel randomized the participants via a password protected internet website. The randomization system determined the treatment and provided a randomization number to be used for each participant.

It is now recognized that physical activity can be associated with the maintenance of cognitive function in older adults and offers some protection against Alzheimer's disease. Cognitive dysfunctions in older adults is becoming an urgent public health problem. However, there is a positive association between physical activity in young children that impacts cognitive health later in adults. The article states that a positive influence of physical activity on the cognitive functions of children is important for at least two reasons. One reason a potential argument for increasing PE without risk of decreasing academic progress. The other reason is that physical activity in school, like physical education class at an early age offers a way to reduce disruptive behavior and later will decrease the dropout rate. Furthermore, another important factor of increased physical education would be an enhanced level of physical

This report will analyze an experiment created to determine the effectiveness of acute exercise on cognitive ability. The overall results were dependent on participants of each group’s cognitive ability during a letter detection task. The results gathered were then averaged and mean scores were used as an overall comparison to determine which group had the highest cognitive performance. This study was influenced by Lambourne and Tomporowski: “The effect of exercise-induced arousal on cognitive task performance: A meta-regression analysis”. Positive improvement in cognitive ability was recorded after the second and third group completed the air cycling task. The results obtained could have been influenced by inaccuracies such as participants

Research has proven that physical activity improves cognitive function and can also improve brain function throughout a lifespan. Moreover, staying physically active has so many benefits as well. For example, doing exercise and fitness activities help build cells and natural pathways to help reduce changes in memory loss or dementia. Also, it has so many health benefits including long-term improvements to the cognitive function as the young adult reaching mid

Smith et al. (2013) took a less studied approach to improving cognitive decline by testing the effects of aerobic exercise on adults (60-88 years old) already suffering from cognitive impairment. After 12 weeks of moderate exercise there was an improvement of memory and neural efficiency across all subjects.

The articles by Erikson et al., Gatz, Korol et al., and Draganski et al. explore the concept of increased physical activity and/or mental activity having effects on the cognitive function and development or deterioration of the brain as we age. Although I agree that physical exercise is critical in increasing cognitive function because of the health benefits it provides, as well as the increased blood flow and circulation throughout the body, I ultimately believe that a healthy brain is not achieved solely by physical exercise or mental exercise, but both. I think there is a link between physical and mental exercise, and that the combination of these two activities creates higher cognitive functioning of the mind as well as the body. The mind and body come together and meet to make an overall healthy individual.

As we all know from research, regular physical activity is the perfect preventive step against the development of United States number one killer, cardiovascular disease. It’s understood that becoming physically active in childhood and staying that way throughout one’s adult life offers the greatest protection. While the prevention of cardiovascular disease is the overall objective of physical activity at all ages, there are additional risk-reduction goals for every age group. My risk reduction goal is for adults the age of 41-65, is to reduce the risk of cognitive decline by doing physical activity. There are many ways physical activity can factor in to reduce the risk of cognitive decline.

Regular exercise is believed to have a huge impact in increasing cognitive ability in individuals. The link between of chronic physical activity and oxygenated haemoglobin in the anterior frontal gyrus of 52 healthy young women was studied (Cameron et al., 2015). The participants were split into groups depending on the amount of physical activity they do regularly. This ranged from 0 being inactive to 3 which is the participant has met the recommended physical activity level, set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), for more than 6 months. This was the participants CPAL or chronic physical activity level. The participants were attached to an infrared spectroscopy that recorded the relative concentration of haemoglobin in their blood every second. They then underwent a reaction time test which tested their inhibiting and switching abilities. The results of the study showed that the

Physical activity impacts various forms of cognitive functioning. However, studies suggest that executive control processes, such as the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, were largely affected with advanced aging. Inhibition involves suppressing the ability to act based on impulse rather than choice (Hillman, Kamijo, & Pontifex, 2012). For example, while reading, older adults require more time compared to younger adults, since distracting information has a greater impact on older adults in disrupting performance (MacKay, A., 2004). Bixby et. al (2007) examined whether engagement physical activity is positively associated with better executive functioning and inhibition in older adults. Older adults that ranged between the ages of 65-92 and exercised frequently during the 3-5 year period prior to the study were controlled for intelligence and education. The test involves a Stroop Color Task which requires inhibition of distractors in order to provide an accurate response by. It assesses the participant's ability to report the ink color without identifying the text. More resistance to distractors signals higher executive functioning

The purpose of this study was to "examine the association between childhood cognitive ability and cognitive change from age 79 to 83 in the presence of other demographic and lifestyle indicators". (Johnson, 2008). The researcher carried out this study because it was clear that there had been very little research done to examine the influence of cognitive ability later in life.

According to a couple studies exercise and intelligence have no connection. Some even suggest that exercise has negative effects on human intelligence. The first study was done by Kaycee M. Sink, M.D., M.A.S., of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and her colleagues, evaluated whether a 24-month physical activity

Regular participation in physical activity is linked to improved academic performance in various scientific studies.  According to Active Living Research, physical activity increases cognitive skills related to brain function, specifically attention and memory.  In a study comparing eleven and twelve-year-old students participating in physical education lessons to students who sat for the same amount of time, those who participated in the physical