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Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women

Background: Physical exercise is an effective measure for preventing the onset of cognitive decline and has a direct influence on the aging process. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a 6-month physical exercise program on cognition and telomere length in adults over 65 years of a...

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Autores principales: Sánchez-González, Juan Luis, Sánchez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis, Martín-Vallejo, Javier, Martel-Martel, Abel, González-Sarmiento, Rogelio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8615568/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34827416
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11111417
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author Sánchez-González, Juan Luis
Sánchez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis
Martín-Vallejo, Javier
Martel-Martel, Abel
González-Sarmiento, Rogelio
author_facet Sánchez-González, Juan Luis
Sánchez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis
Martín-Vallejo, Javier
Martel-Martel, Abel
González-Sarmiento, Rogelio
author_sort Sánchez-González, Juan Luis
collection PubMed
description Background: Physical exercise is an effective measure for preventing the onset of cognitive decline and has a direct influence on the aging process. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a 6-month physical exercise program on cognition and telomere length in adults over 65 years of age. Method: Seventy-four healthy women were separated into two groups: 41 were included in the intervention group (IG) (72.70 ± 4.127 years and 8.18 ± 1.551 years of education) and 33 in the control group (CG) (71.21 ± 4.127 years and 8.42 ± 2.562). The participants included within the IG carried out three sessions of physical exercise per week for six months. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Stroop test and the Trail Making Test (TMT). Saliva samples were taken and analyzed and relative telomere length was calculated. Those conducting the analysis were blind to the group to which the participants had been assigned. Results: An improvement was observed in global cognitive function, in both attentional and executive functions, in the group of adults doing physical exercise as compared to the control group. Six months after the physical exercise program had finished, relative telomere length was found to have increased in the participants in the intervention group. Conclusion: Physical exercise programs can lead to an improvement in both cognitive functions and telomere length.
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spelling pubmed-86155682021-11-26 Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women Sánchez-González, Juan Luis Sánchez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis Martín-Vallejo, Javier Martel-Martel, Abel González-Sarmiento, Rogelio Brain Sci Article Background: Physical exercise is an effective measure for preventing the onset of cognitive decline and has a direct influence on the aging process. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a 6-month physical exercise program on cognition and telomere length in adults over 65 years of age. Method: Seventy-four healthy women were separated into two groups: 41 were included in the intervention group (IG) (72.70 ± 4.127 years and 8.18 ± 1.551 years of education) and 33 in the control group (CG) (71.21 ± 4.127 years and 8.42 ± 2.562). The participants included within the IG carried out three sessions of physical exercise per week for six months. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Stroop test and the Trail Making Test (TMT). Saliva samples were taken and analyzed and relative telomere length was calculated. Those conducting the analysis were blind to the group to which the participants had been assigned. Results: An improvement was observed in global cognitive function, in both attentional and executive functions, in the group of adults doing physical exercise as compared to the control group. Six months after the physical exercise program had finished, relative telomere length was found to have increased in the participants in the intervention group. Conclusion: Physical exercise programs can lead to an improvement in both cognitive functions and telomere length. MDPI 2021-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8615568/ /pubmed/34827416 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11111417 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sánchez-González, Juan Luis
Sánchez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis
Martín-Vallejo, Javier
Martel-Martel, Abel
González-Sarmiento, Rogelio
Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title_full Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title_fullStr Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title_short Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition and Telomere Length in Healthy Older Women
title_sort effects of physical exercise on cognition and telomere length in healthy older women
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8615568/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34827416
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11111417
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