summary: New research has found that even one bout of intense exercise can improve cognitive abilities in young adults, particularly memory, attention, and executive function. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and cycling had the greatest cognitive benefits, especially when training for less than 30 minutes. Although the cognitive improvements were modest, they suggest that short bursts of intense exercise may have a more immediate impact on brain function than previously thought.
important facts:
- Vigorous activities, particularly HIIT and cycling, showed the greatest effects on cognitive performance.
- Exercise sessions of less than 30 minutes had greater cognitive benefits than longer sessions.
- Executive function showed the greatest improvement, especially when tested immediately after exercise.
sauce: University of California Santa Barbara
Decades of exercise research data support the common belief that long-term, steady exercise not only provides physical benefits, but also improves brain function. But what about all those intense bursts of exercise? A team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara took a closer look.
Their study, “Systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis provides evidence of the effects of acute physical activity on cognition in young adults,” was recently published. communication psychology.
“One of the most consistent findings in the literature is that exercise interventions (such as programs that are undertaken three times a week over a period of months or years) improve cognitive function and even neurogenesis (new “The process by which neurons are formed in the brain),” said Barry Giesbrecht, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and lead author of the study. .
“However, studies examining the effects of a single acute bout of exercise are more complex.”
It focuses on people between the ages of 18 and 45, and lead author Jordan Garrett graduated with a Ph.D. Giesbrecht’s team at the UCSB Attention Lab then screened thousands of exercise studies published between 1995 and 2023 to determine consistent trends in the literature.
Based on the results of their modeling approach, cycling and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) produced the most consistent effects in improving memory, attention, executive function, information processing, and other cognitive functions.
“We found that vigorous activity had the greatest effect,” Giesbrecht says.
“Also, the effect was strongest in studies that tested cognition after exercise rather than during it,” he added.
“And finally, the effects of less than 30 minutes of exercise were greater than those of more than 30 minutes. Our study provides the strongest evidence that a single bout of exercise positively impacts cognitive performance. showed that this evidence was influenced by a variety of factors.
The team, which also included project scientist Tom Block and graduate student Carly Chak, also found in the study that executive function is a key cognitive area affected by intense exercise such as HIIT protocols. did.
“I think another interesting finding is that the overall effect of a single exercise session is generally small,” Giesbrecht said, adding that in addition to the variability between experiments, the improvement in effectiveness is generally measured He pointed out that there is a possibility that it is small because it is subject to change. When physical activity is not related to cognitive tasks.
This raises the “interesting” hypothesis that perhaps tasks that require the integration of our body’s movements and our cognitive systems could yield more pronounced benefits, he added.
Giesbrecht and his team plan to test the idea “using a combination of laboratory work and real-world activities,” he said.
About this exercise and cognition research announcement
author: keith ham
sauce: University of California Santa Barbara
contact: Keith Ham – University of California, Santa Barbara
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis provides evidence of the effects of acute physical activity on cognition in young people” written by Barry Giesbrecht et al. communication psychology
abstract
Systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis provides evidence of the effects of acute physical activity on cognition in young people
Physical exercise is a potential intervention to improve cognitive function throughout the lifespan. However, while studies using long-term exercise interventions consistently show positive effects on cognition, studies using single acute attacks have yielded mixed results.
Here, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effects of acute exercise on cognitive task performance in healthy young adults.
A Bayesian hierarchical model quantified probabilistic evidence for a moderating relationship by synthesizing 651 effect sizes from 113 studies in PsychInfo and Google Scholar representing 4,390 participants.
Publication bias was reduced using a trim-and-fill technique. Rapid exercise was found to have a small beneficial effect on cognitive performance (g= 0.13 ± 0.04; BF = 3.67), which shortens the reaction time.
A meta-analysis limited to executive function tasks revealed improvements in working memory and inhibition. Meta-analytic estimates were consistent across multiple prior and likelihood functions.
Physical activities were categorized based on the type of exercise (e.g. cycling), as many activities have aerobic and anaerobic components, whereas this approach comparison may be limited.
The current study provides an updated synthesis of the existing literature and insight into the robustness of acute exercise-induced effects on cognition.
Funding is provided by the U.S. Army Research Office.
