High levels of incidental physical activity are positively associated with cognition and EEG activity in aging

Abstract

High levels of physical activity seem to positively influence health and cognition across the lifespan. Several studies have found that aerobic exercise enhances cognition and likely prevents cognitive decline in the elderly. Nevertheless, the association of incidental physical activity (IPA) with health and cognition during aging has not been studied. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the association of IPA level with cognitive functions and resting electroencephalogram (EEG) in healthy old participants. Participants (n = 97) with normal scores on psychometric and neuropsychological tests and normal values in blood analyses were included. A cluster analysis based on the scores of the Yale Physical Activity Scale (YPAS) allowed the formation of two groups: active, with high levels of IPA, and passive, with low levels of IPA. Eyes-closed resting EEG was recorded from the participants; the fast Fourier transform was used offline to calculate absolute power (AP), relative power (RP), and mean frequency (MF) measures. There were no differences in socioeconomic status, cognitive reserve, general cognitive status, or lipid and TSH profiles between the groups. The results of cognitive tests revealed significant differences in the performance variables of the WAIS scores (p = .015), with advantages for the active group. The resting EEG exhibited significantly slower activity involving the frontal, central, and temporal regions in the passive group (p < .05). Specifically, higher delta RP (F7, T3), lower delta MF (F4, C4, T4, T6, Fz, Cz), higher theta AP (C4), higher theta RP (F4, C4, T3, Fz), lower alpha AP (F3, F7, T3), lower alpha RP (F7), and lower total MF (F3, F7, T3, T5, Fz) were found. Altogether, these results suggest that IPA induces a neuroprotective effect, which is reflected both in behavioral and electrophysiological variables during aging.

Effects of 8-Weeks Concurrent Strength and Aerobic Training on Body Composition, Physiological and Cognitive Performance in Older Adult Women

“…This physiological and cognitive finding here is consistent with the relation that a good cardiovascular capacity has better performance in cognitive tasks in older [76,77]. There is strong evidence of RE improve different cognitive function [59,68,[78][79][80] same as inactivity and obesity are related to cognitive impairment [23,58]; also RE is shown as a maintaining cognitive function predictor in older [81]. In spite of this evidence, samples of most of these studies are with no healthy population, however research, even with healthy subjects, also showed cognitive benefits in RE [56].…”

Age and APOE genotype affect the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and power in the alpha band, a marker of brain disease

“…Alternatively, it is possible that with aging, there is a shift from posterior to anterior background activity sources. In fact, a few studies showing that alpha power could increase in older adults with acute, habitual physical exercise or after an exercise-based intervention focused on frontal activity sources [ 10 , 64 , 72 ]. Here, when we studied the effect of age, we focused on a cluster comprising parieto-occipital brain regions where the relationship between PA and alpha power was maximized across the whole sample.…”

Age and APOE genotype affect the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and power in the alpha band, a marker of brain disease.

“…Alternatively, it is possible that with aging there is a shift from posterior to anterior background activity sources. In fact, a few studies showing that alpha power could increase in older adults with acute, habitual physical exercise or after an exercise-based intervention, focused on frontal activity sources (Choi et al, 2018;Sanchez-Lopez et al, 2018;Vogt et al, 2010). Here, when we studied the effect of age we focused on a cluster comprising parieto-occipital brain regions where the relationship between PA and alpha power was maximized across the whole sample.…”