Brain Endurance Training Combats Age-Related Decline in Concentration – Neuroscience News

Summary: Brain endurance training (BET), a combination of cognitive and physical training, has been shown to significantly improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults. In a study conducted with unemployed women aged 65-78, BET participants showed significant improvement in attention and executive function, as well as increased physical endurance.

This method, designed for athletes, can play a role in reducing age-related cognitive decline and physical problems such as balance issues. The BET group saw higher gains in both mental and physical tests than the exercise-only participants. The researchers hope these results will encourage more adults to incorporate BET into their routines. Further studies are planned to confirm the results in a larger, more diverse sample.

Important information:

• BET improved mental performance by 7.8% vs. 4.5% in the exercise group only.
• BET participants showed a 29.9% increase in body mass compared to 22.4%.
• BET helps fight mental fatigue, helping the brain and body function.

Source: University of Birmingham

Brain endurance training (BET), an integrated cognitive and exercise training method designed for athletes, enhances cognitive and physical performance in older adults.

According to a new study by researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, UK, and Extremadura, Spain, brain endurance training (BET) can improve attention and executive function (cognition), as well as physical endurance and performance. resistance process.

BET is a combined exercise and cognitive training method that has been pioneered to increase endurance among elite athletes.

Research has implications for healthy aging. Previous studies have shown that mental fatigue can impair mental and physical performance, including poor balance control, leading to an increased risk of falls and injuries.

This study, published in Sport and Exercise Psychology, is the first to examine the benefits of BET for cognitive and physical performance in older adults.

Corresponding author Professor Chris Ring said: “We have shown that BET can be an effective intervention to improve mental and physical performance in older people, even when they are tired. This can have the following effects growth in improving the lives of these people, including reducing the risk of falls and injuries.”

In the experiment, 24 healthy women aged between 65-78 were assigned to one of three training groups: brain endurance training (BET), exercise training, and no training (control group) . The first two groups each completed a 45-minute exercise session per week over a period of eight weeks.

Each session included 20 minutes of resistance training and 25 minutes of endurance training. Although the exercise times were the same for each of these groups, the BET group also completed 20 minutes of mindfulness before exercise.

All three groups completed a series of cognitive (reaction time and color matching tests) and physical tests (walking, standing and arm-curl tests) to assess performance at the beginning and end of the study. participants in the BET group outperformed the exercise-only group on cognitive tasks, with a 7.8% increase in cognitive performance after exercise, compared to a 4.5% increase in the exercise-only group.

In terms of physical activity, the BET group achieved a 29.9% improvement, compared to 22.4% for the exercise-only group.

Professor Ring added: “BET is an effective way to prevent mental fatigue and its harmful effects on the work of older people.

“Although we still need to expand our research to include a larger sample size including men and women, these promising early findings show that we need to do more to encourage older people to participate in BET improve brain and body functions.”

About this brain training news and aging research news

Author: Beck Lockwood
Source: University of Birmingham
Contact: Beck Lockwood – University of Birmingham
Image: Image credited to Neuroscience News

Basic research: Open access.
“Brain endurance training improves performance in young and physically inactive adults” by Chris Ring et al. Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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Summary

Brain endurance training improves performance in young and physically inactive older adults.

Goals

Mental and physical performance is impaired by aging and fatigue. Mental training and exercise can reduce such damage. Therefore, we investigated the effect of Brain Endurance Training (BET) – a combined cognitive and physical training – on cognitive and physical performance in young and tired adults.

Design

Twenty-four healthy sedentary women (65-78 years) were assigned to one of three training groups: BET, exercise, and control (no training). The BET and exercise groups completed the same physical training regimen consisting of three 45-minute exercise sessions (20 minutes of resistance training plus 25 minutes of endurance training) with a week for eight weeks. The BET group completed a 20-minute cognitive task before the exercise tasks. Cognitive (tasks: psychomotor vigilance, Stroop) and physical (tests: walking, standing, folding arms) performance were tested when fresh and tired (before and after after a 30-minute cognitive task) at weeks 0 (pretest), 4 (mid-test), 8 (post-test), and 12 (post-test).

Results

Mind and body and overall physical performance were higher at fresh and fatigued mid-test and post-test for the BET and exercise training groups compared to the control group. The BET group outperformed the exercise group when fatigued at mid-test and post-test cognitively (always) and physically (occasionally). Pre-post changes in cognitive performance when young and tired averaged 3.7% and 7.8% for BET, 3.6% and 4.5% for exercise, and -0.4% and 0.3% for of control groups. The corresponding changes in physical activity are 16.5% and 29.9% for BET, 13.8% and 22.4% for exercise, and 10.8% and 7.1% for control groups.

The end

These studies show that BET can improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults.