Key result
Single aerobic session acutely improves cognitive flexibility in older women, moderated by baseline fitness.
Why the study?
Age, habitual physical activity, and physical fitness as moderators of acute aerobic exercise's effect on cognitive flexibility in adults were not well understood.
Does a single moderate aerobic-exercise session improve cognitive flexibility in older and young women?
Does a single moderate aerobic-exercise session improve cognitive flexibility in older and young women?
Effect estimate: R = -0.622
p-value: p=<0.01
A single session of moderate aerobic exercise transiently improves cognitive flexibility in older women, an effect that is moderated by baseline physical fitness.
Small study leaves open whether age, fitness, or activity moderate acute exercise effects on cognitive flexibility in women; larger trials needed.
A recent study indicated that acute aerobic exercise improves cognitive flexibility in adults. The current study assessed age, habitual physical activity, and physical fitness as moderators of this improvement and examined whether the gains still exist an hour after the exercise session. The alternative-uses test, assessing cognitive flexibility, was administered individually to 20 older (age 63.67 +/- 3.55 yr) and 19 young (age 23.9 +/- 1.22) women before, immediately after, and an hour after a single moderate aerobic-exercise session. Results indicated significant improvement in cognitive flexibility in the older group immediately after the exercise but a decrease at the 1-hr follow-up. Further analysis indicated that physical fitness accounted for this improvement (R = -.622, p < .01). No such differences were observed in the young group. Further studies are needed to examine the duration of this effect, as well as the role of physical fitness as a moderator of it.
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Netz et al. (2009) studied this question. Single moderate aerobic-exercise session vs. Baseline (pre-exercise) and young women was evaluated on Cognitive flexibility (alternative-uses test) (R = -0.622, p=<0.01). A single moderate aerobic-exercise session significantly improved cognitive flexibility immediately post-exercise in older women, an effect moderated by physical fitness (R = -0.622, p<0.01).
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