summary: Brain endurance training (BET), which combines cognitive and motor approaches, has been shown to significantly improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults. In a study of sedentary women aged 65 to 78, BET participants showed significant improvements in attention and executive function, along with increased physical endurance.
The method was originally developed for athletes and could help reduce age-related physical problems such as cognitive decline and balance problems. The BET group showed higher gains on both mental and physical tests than exercise-only participants. The researchers hope that these findings will encourage more older people to incorporate BET into their daily lives. Further studies are planned to validate the results in a larger and more diverse sample.
Important facts:
- BET improved cognitive performance by 7.8%, compared to 4.5% in the exercise-only group.
- BET participants showed an increase in physical performance of 29.9% compared to 22.4%.
- BET reduces mental fatigue and benefits both brain and body performance.
sauce: University of Birmingham
Brain endurance training (BET) is a combination of cognitive and motor training developed for athletes to improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults.
Brain endurance training (BET) improves not only physical endurance and resistance exercise performance, but also attention and executive function (cognition), according to a new study by researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK and the University of Extremadura in Spain. can also be improved.
BET is a combination of exercise and cognitive training that was originally developed to improve endurance in elite athletes.
This research has implications for healthy aging. Previous research has shown that mental fatigue impairs both cognitive and physical performance, including decreased balance control, which can lead to an increased risk of falls and accidents.
This research psychology of sport and exercise, were the first to investigate the benefits of BET on both cognitive and physical performance in older adults.
Corresponding author Professor Chris Ring said: “We showed that BET may be an effective intervention to improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults, even when they are fatigued. This includes reducing the risk of falls and accidents. , could have a significant impact on improving the health span of this population.”
In the experiment, 24 healthy sedentary women aged 65 to 78 were assigned to one of three training groups: brain endurance training (BET), exercise training, or no training (control group). The first two groups each completed three 45-minute exercise sessions per week for eight weeks.
Each session included 20 minutes of resistance training and 25 minutes of endurance training. The exercise sessions for each of these groups were the same, but the BET group also completed a 20-minute cognitive task before exercise.
All three groups completed a battery of cognitive tests (reaction time and color matching tests) and physical tests (walking, chair standing, and arm curl tests) to assess performance at the beginning and end of the study. . Participants in the BET group outperformed the exercise-only group on cognitive tasks, with a 7.8% improvement in cognitive performance after exercise, compared to a 4.5% improvement in the exercise-only group.
In terms of physical performance, the BET group achieved a 29.9% improvement compared to 22.4% in the exercise-only group.
“BET is an effective countermeasure against mental fatigue and its negative impact on performance in older adults,” added Professor Ring.
“Although the study needs to be expanded to include a larger sample size that includes both men and women, these promising initial results suggest that older adults should be encouraged to participate in BET to improve brain and body activity. This shows that more efforts need to be made to encourage
About this brain training and aging research news
author: beck lockwood
sauce: University of Birmingham
contact: Beck Lockwood – University of Birmingham
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Brain endurance training improves cognitive and physical performance in sedentary older adults when fresh and tiredWritten by Chris Ring et al. Psychology of sport and exercise
abstract
Brain endurance training improves cognitive and physical performance in sedentary older adults when fresh and tired
the purpose
Cognitive and physical abilities decline with age and fatigue. Cognitive and motor training may alleviate such impairments. Therefore, we investigated the effects of brain endurance training (BET), which combines cognitive and motor training, on the cognitive and physical performance of older adults when they are fresh and when they are fatigued.
design
Twenty-four healthy sedentary women (65-78 years) were randomly assigned to one of three training groups: BET, exercise training, or control (no training). The BET group and the exercise training group completed the same physical training protocol consisting of three 45-minute exercise sessions (20 minutes of resistance exercise and 25 minutes of endurance exercise) per week for 8 weeks. The BET group completed a 20-min cognitive task before the motor task. Cognitive (task: psychomotor arousal, Stroop) and physical (tests: walking, chair-standing, arm curl) performance when fresh and fatigued (before and after a 30-min cognitive task) at week 0 ( Tested before testing). 4 (mid-term test), 8 (post-test), 12 (follow-up test).
result
Cognitive acuity, physical performance, and performance during and after the test when fresh and fatigued were generally better in both the BET and exercise training groups compared to the control group. Ta. The BET group performed better than the exercise group both cognitively (always) and physically (sometimes) when fatigued during and after the test. Pre-post changes in cognitive performance when fresh and fatigued averaged 3.7% and 7.8% for BET, 3.6% and 4.5% for exercise, and -0.4% and 0.3% for control. The corresponding changes in physical performance averaged 16.5% and 29.9% for BET, 13.8% and 22.4% for exercise, and 10.8% and 7.1% for the control group.
conclusion
These findings indicate that BET may improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults.
