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Acute Effects of Exercise on Neuropsychological Function in Elderly Subjects
Author(s) -
Molloy D. W.,
Beerschoten D. A.,
Borrie M. J.,
Crilly R. G.,
Cape R. D. T.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1988.tb03430.x
Subject(s) - memory span , medicine , geriatric depression scale , trail making test , mood , neuropsychology , verbal fluency test , neuropsychological test , physical therapy , test (biology) , mini–mental state examination , cognition , psychological testing , logical address , depression (economics) , audiology , psychiatry , clinical psychology , working memory , cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms , paleontology , macroeconomics , biology , economics , physical address , computer science , programming language , overlay
Fit elderly score higher on tests of fluid intelligence than aged‐matched sedentary controls. Elderly patients who have taken part in exercise programs have shown improvement in mental function. We compared the effects of 45 minutes of exercise on memory, mood, and cognitive function in elderly subjects to a control intervention using a randomized control study design. Neuropsychological tests employed where the color slide test, digit symbol test, digit span test, logical memory test, word fluency test, and the Mini‐Mental State Examination. We measured mood using a mood test and geriatric depression scale. Each subject was tested before, and immediately after, control and exercise sessions. Fifteen elderly subjects [ten men and five women; mean age, 66 years, (range, 60 to 85 years)] completed the study. There was a greater improvement in six of the eight scores of cognitive function following exercise, compared to control. These differences were significantly greater following exercise for the logical memory test score (P ≤ 0.02) and Mini‐Mental State Examination (P ≤ 0.025) compared with the control intervention.