Interplay of exercise engagement and emotional functioning on cognition in former college athletes

Exercise is a well-established protective factor which may support healthy aging, yet questions remain regarding its direct benefit on cognition, especially in older adult populations with extensive prior athletic participation.

Data were drawn from 636 participants (M_age = 61.0, SD = 7.4) that completed a study of brain health in former college athletes. Participants completed self-report measures of depression (PHQ-8), anxiety (GAD-7), and cognition (CFI), in addition to an objective cognitive screening instrument (TICS-40). Weekly exercise was reported across aerobic, resistance, and wellness activities, and modeled as a latent factor. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine associations between exercise, emotional symptoms, and cognitive functioning while adjusting for age and education.

Latent models demonstrated good to excellent fit to the data. In separate models, greater weekly exercise engagement was significantly associated with better objective cognitive functioning (β = .12, p =.019), but not with subjective cognition (β = -.05, p =.274). Instead, depression (β = .32, p  < .001) and anxiety (β = .22, p  < .001) symptoms were stronger predictors of greater subjective cognitive difficulties than exercise engagement.

Among former college athletes, exercise engagement was positively associated with objective cognitive functioning but not subjective cognition, which instead was weakly to moderately related to emotional symptom endorsement. These findings highlight the importance of considering both psychological and physical health when evaluating cognition in former athletes and suggest that ongoing exercise may support healthy cognitive aging even in those with extensive athletic histories.