The effects of exercise on cognitive abilities have been studied. However, evidence regarding the neural substrates of sad emotion regulation is limited. Women have higher rates for affective disorders than men, but insufficient outcomes assess how aerobic exercises modulate central frontal activation in sad emotion inhibition and resilience among healthy women. This study investigated the effects of aerobic exercise-related brain activity on sad emotion inhibition processing in young women. Sad facial Go/No-Go and neutral Go/No-Go trials were conducted among 30 healthy young women to examine the changes in the N2 component, which reflects frontal inhibition responses, between pre-exercise and post-exercise periods. The first test was performed before aerobic exercise (baseline; 1st) and the second test was performed during an absolute rest period of 90 min after exercise. The sad No-Go stimuli that evoked N200 (N2) event-related potential were recorded and analyzed. The results showed that in the sad No-Go trials, N2 activation at the central-prefrontal cortex was significantly attenuated after exercise compared to the baseline N2 activation. Exercise-modulated N2 activation was not observed in the neutral No-Go trials. The behavioral error rates of sad No-Go trials did not differ between the two experiments. A reduced engagement of central-frontal activation to sad No-Go stimuli was shown after exercise. However, behavioral performance was consistent between the two measurements. The findings scope the benefits of the aerobic exercise on the neural efficiency in responding to sad emotion-eliciting cues as well as adaptive transitions reinstatement for regulatory capabilities in healthy young women.

Background The perimenopausal period is associated with a higher risk of various mood disorders. Similarly, although resting-state electroencephalogram (rsEEG) brain oscillatory activity has been associated with various neuropsychological disorders and behaviours, these issues have not been assessed in perimenopausal women. This study aimed to evaluate quantitative relationships between psychometric properties and rsEEG rhythms (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma powers) in perimenopausal women. Methods A cross-sectional correlational descriptive study was conducted to quantitatively analyze the correlations between rsEEG low-to-high band activities (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma powers) and psychometric properties in 14 perimenopausal women. Participants completed a psychological inventory comprising the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI), Depression Inventory (DI), Behavioural Inhibition Scale (BIS) and short-form UPPS Impulsive Behaviour Scale (IS) before EEG recording. Results Results showed that impulsivity was positively related to the beta power, symmetrical at most channels (frontal, temporal, central, parietal and occipital regions; p < .05); but did not related to the delta, theta, alpha and gamma powers. The brainwave low-to-high bands, delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma power were not associated with DI, SAI or BIS scores. Conclusions This study’s findings propose that significantly enhanced resting-state beta activity is a trait of impulsivity in perimenopausal women. Therefore, results have potential implications for the preclinical or clinical evaluation of these issues in perimenopausal women.

Background The climacteric phase of menopausal transition (perimenopause) is marked by reproductive hormone fluctuations and reduced cognitive capacity. Exercise enhances neurocognitive performance. However, auditory perceptual sensitivity has not been examined. Purpose This study aimed to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on the response speed (reaction time) and error rate during auditory processing among perimenopausal women. Methods Three pitches (500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) were used during a simple auditory discrimination task, which was performed before and after exercise. We included 14 perimenopausal women and 17 right-handed young women (aged 46-54 years and 18-22 years, respectively). To achieve similar exercise intensity in both groups, we proposed two types of physical activities for each group. Mixed models statistics were used to analyze the reaction time and error rate before and after training in the two groups. Results Perimenopausal women exhibited a significantly longer reaction time than young women during the baseline auditory discrimination task (p< 0.05) but not during the second test. The error rate decreased significantly after exercise among perimenopausal women (p < 0.05) but not among young women. Thus, exercise had a stronger beneficial influence on auditory plasticity or sensitivity for perimenopausal women than for young women. Conclusion The ability of aerobic exercise to modulate auditory neurocognitive performance differs between the two groups. Aerobic exercise improves auditory discrimination performance specifically for perimenopausal women. These results provide preliminary evidence concerning the acoustic features of middle-aged women, underscoring the importance of exercise for preventing decline in auditory cognitive function in perimenopausal women.