Effects of acute interval handgrip exercise on cognitive performance

Area of Science:

• Exercise Physiology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Cardiovascular Health

Background:

• Dynamic exercise enhances cognitive performance, but the effects of interval handgrip (HG) exercise on cognition are unclear.
• Interval HG exercise is known to reduce resting blood pressure, but its impact on cognitive functions requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the acute effects of interval handgrip (HG) exercise on cognitive performance in young healthy subjects.
• To determine if interval HG exercise influences memory recognition and executive function.

Main Methods:

• 17 young healthy subjects underwent cognitive assessments before and after a resting control and an interval HG exercise protocol.
• The protocol involved four 2-min HG exercise bouts at 25% maximum voluntary contraction with 3-min recovery.
• Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCA V) were monitored, alongside memory recognition and Go/No-Go tasks.

Main Results:

• Interval HG exercise increased MAP and MCA V, which returned to baseline during recovery.
• No significant changes were observed in memory recognition reaction time or accuracy.
• Significantly shorter reaction times were found in the Go/No-Go task (executive function) during the exercise condition compared to the control.

Conclusions:

• Acute interval HG exercise can improve processing speed in executive function in young healthy individuals.
• These cognitive benefits occur independently of significant changes in hemodynamic parameters.
• Interval HG exercise presents a viable option for enhancing executive function processing speed, irrespective of cardiovascular adaptations.