Walking and low-load resistance exercise improves cognitive function and cardiometabolic risk factors. - GreenMedInfo Summary
A Non-Randomized Combined Program of Walking and Low-Load Resistance Exercise Improves Cognitive Function and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Community-Dwelling Elderly Women.
Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Oct 21 ;10(10). Epub 2022 Oct 21. PMID: 36292553
Jeonghyeon Kim
BACKGROUND: This study examines whether changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, functional fitness, and depressive symptoms following a six-month exercise intervention were associated with cognitive function in Korean women aged 65 years and older.
METHODS: A non-randomized study design was used to compare post-intervention changes in measured variables between control (= 30) and exercise (= 30) groups. The exercise intervention consisted of three days of low-load resistance exercise and two days of walking. Cognitive function and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Functional fitness was measured using a senior fitness test battery.
RESULTS: The exercise group showed a significant improvement in cognitive function (< 0.001) in conjunction with significant decreases in blood glucose (= 0.052), triglycerides (= 0.011), insulin (= 0.002), tumor necrosis factor-α (= 0.043), and depressive symptoms (= 0.006) and an increase in interleukin-10 (= 0.037), compared with the control group. Multivariate stepwise regression showed that changes in depressive symptoms (< 0.001), insulin resistance (< 0.001), and upper body muscle strength (= 0.003) were positively associated with cognitive function.
CONCLUSION: A six-month exercise intervention consisting of walking and low-load/high-repetition elastic band resistance exercise has the potential to improve cognitive function, as well as physical function and cardiometabolic risk factors, and to decrease depressive symptoms in older women.