Intervention effects of different types of exercise interventions on executive functions in obese college students with low socioeconomic status

To investigate the intervention effects of open and closed motor skill exercises on the executive function of obese college students with low socioeconomic status (SES). A total of 78 obese college students with low socioeconomic status were recruited as participants and randomly divided into an open motor skill exercise group and a closed motor skill exercise group. A 12-week exercise intervention was conducted, with three 60-minute sessions per week. The Flanker task, 2-back task and More-odd shifting task were used to assess inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility, respectively. Data analyses were performed using the independent-samples t-test, analysis of covariance and Pearson correlation analysis. After the intervention, the open motor skill exercise group had a significantly shorter response time in the congruent condition of the Flanker task than the closed motor skill exercise group ( F = 4.483, P = 0.036), a significantly shorter response time in the 2-back task ( F = 10.986, P = 0.001), and a significantly higher accuracy in the mixed judgment of the More-odd shifting task ( F = 4.552, P = 0.035). The BMI of both groups decreased significantly after the intervention, with no significant intergroup difference ( F = 2.155, P = 0.144). In addition, BMI was significantly positively correlated with the response time in the congruent condition of the Flanker task ( r = 0.182, P = 0.023), the response time in the 2-back task ( r = 0.195, P = 0.015) and the mixed response time in the More-odd shifting task ( r = 0.224, P = 0.006), while it was significantly negatively correlated with the numerical judgment accuracy in the More-odd shifting task ( r =-0.191, P = 0.019). Compared with closed motor skill exercise, open motor skill exercise achieves superior intervention effects on certain indicators of executive function among obese college students with low SES. Both types of exercise can effectively reduce BMI in this population. In addition, there is a significant correlation between executive function and BMIin obese college students with low SES.