Physical Activity Affects Cognitive Performance

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

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)

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

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.

In fact, cognitive abilities gradually decline as time progresses. From the observation, it was seen that a considerable number of the seniors in the room were not able to remember or recall certain names of the volunteers. A physiological explanation for this involves the neurons of the brain. As age progresses, the fibers of the neurons’ axons twist to form neurofibrillary tangles (Kail & Cavanuagh, 2016). The causes of neurofibrillary tangles are unknown; however, the structure of the axons make it for difficult for signals to be transmitted and relayed from neuron to neuron. In late adulthood, information processing speed declines because of how the central nervous system has been deteriorating over time (Shaban, 2017). Some examples of illnesses that illustrate this process are dementia and Alzheimer’s. In both illnesses, elderly individuals are not able to store, process, and retrieve information as quickly as younger individuals. Seniors take a longer time to learn and retain new information. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 15% of old aged people suffer from mental disorders (Choolayil, 2017). The quality of cognitive abilities can either be maintained or declined depending on how frequently the individual “exercises” his or her brain. Seniors can practice and hone their critical and abstract thinking skills. The observed seniors had the opportunity to keep their minds active by participating in activities such as reading books, doing arts and crafts, or playing crossword or puzzle games. If the brain is continually inclined to think and discover, the likelihood of developing mental disorders or cognitive impairment

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.

attentional resources dedicated to working memory during allocation of attention, while latency of P3 reflects the speed of processing. The purpose of this study is to examine whether participation in physical activity would increase working memory performance for older adults. Participants included older adults that were divided into the high and low physical activity group. The higher physical activity group included participants that engaged in low or moderate physical activity, such as walking or jogging, at least 3 times a week in the last 6 months, while the low physical engaged in low levels of exercise (eg., stretching) less than two times per week in the last 6 months. ERP analysis exhibited a higher P3 amplitude and a decreased latency

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

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.

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

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

In the previous chapters, we discussed the effects of different types of physical activity and exercise training on prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s’ disease. We will now discuss the effects of cognitive training on improving the general and specific cognitive abilities of Alzheimer’s disease patients by initially focusing on the studies using cognitive training alone as a therapeutic intervention, and subsequently, contrasting the efficacy of this intervention against the combined physical activity and cognitive training protocol.

Cognition has significant ties to the brain function, this leads to strong association. Although the brain is greatly impacted in a run, cognition is not in young adults. Cognition is benefited in those who are ”losing it” possible of age-relation, like those with dementia or heading there (Stroth, 2009). Middle age is when the cognition can start to be impacted because exercise seems to decrease tissue loss in areas around the brain. With the loss of tissue a counterside to not exercising, exercise for the middle age can be even more beneficial than it is to teens. The brain faces new challenges as people hit middle age including; pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. The relationship to young

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.

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