Effects of acute exercise in the sitting position on executive function evaluated by the Stroop task in healthy older adults.
Takumi Abe, Keisuke Fujii, Kazuki Hyodo and 2 others
PMID 29706717WHAT IT FOUND
The reaction times did not show an exercise-specific change, but all sitting exercises reduced the gap between easy and hard word-color trials; only finger movement stood out versus resting.
Key findings
01No significant intervention-by-time interaction was found for neutral or incongruent reaction times.
02Stroop interference improved after stepping, stretching, and finger movement, but not after the rest control.
03Compared with rest, only finger movement showed a significantly larger change in Stroop interference; stepping and stretching did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The analyzed sample was 26 older adults. Forty initially met criteria; one dropped before screening; two dropped during the experimental period; eleven were excluded for low Stroop accuracy. The paper did not name one outcome as primary; it reported reaction times, Stroop interference, and error rates, and the positive finding was on Stroop interference while raw reaction-time interactions were not significant. Participants were healthy adults without dementia, depression, or frailty, so results may not apply to patients with cognitive impairment, depression, or physical frailty. The study measured immediate effects after one session and did not test long-term effects. Exercise intensity was not measured.
Declared interests
This work was supported by a grant from Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that all three sitting exercises are proven to improve executive function in older adults. The study analyzed 26 healthy older adults, measured immediate Stroop task changes only, and only finger movement differed significantly from rest.