Public Health

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Exercise Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Physical activity in older adults is crucial for health and reducing Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk.
• Positive affective responses to exercise are linked to increased physical activity.
• Previous research focused on younger populations and lacked detailed affect assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of affect during and after exercise on physical activity in middle-aged and older adults.
• To examine how age and amyloid levels moderate the relationship between affective response and physical activity.

Main Methods:

• 122 cognitively normal adults (44-85 years) underwent moderate-intensity exercise.
• Affect was measured during and at multiple time points post-exercise.
• Physical activity was objectively measured via actigraphy; amyloid pathology was assessed using PET scans.

Main Results:

• Affect during exercise did not correlate with physical activity levels.
• Post-exercise high arousal positive (HAP) and high arousal negative (HAN) affect changes were not predictive of physical activity.
• A trend suggested decreased low arousal negative (LAN) affect correlated with more physical activity.
• Increased and faster return of low arousal positive (LAP) affect post-exercise was linked to higher physical activity in younger participants.
• Amyloid levels did not significantly moderate the associations.

Conclusions:

• Changes in low arousal affect post-exercise may be key predictors of physical activity in older adults.
• Findings can guide interventions to enhance affective responses and promote physical activity.
• Future research should explore tau biomarkers' role in moderating these effects.