An acute bout of exercise improves the cognitive performance of older adults.

Abstract

There is evidence that an acute bout of exercise confers cognitive benefits, but it is largely 2 unknown what the optimal mode and duration of exercise is and how cognitive performance 3 changes over time after exercise. We compared the cognitive performance of 31 older adults 4 using the Stroop test before, immediately after, and at 30 and 60 minutes after a 10 and 30 5 minute aerobic or resistance exercise session. Heart rate and feelings of arousal were also 6 measured before, during and after exercise. We found that independent of mode or duration of 7 exercise, the participants improved in the Stroop Inhibition task immediately post-exercise. We 8 did not find the exercise influenced the performance of the Stroop Color or Stroop Word 9 Interference tasks. Our findings suggest that an acute bout of exercise can improve cognitive 10 performance, and in particular the more complex executive functioning, of older adults.