Recent Study on How Physical Activity May Boost Neurocognition in Late Adulthood Featured in the Medical Journal Age and Ageing

Results using data from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study were recently published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Age and Ageing, the official journal of the British Geriatrics Society. The study found that staying active through moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is associated with significantly better processing speed, working memory, and executive function in older adults.

Audrey Collins, PhD, formerly with the University of Pittsburgh and now a postdoctoral researcher with the AdventHealth Research Institute, contributed to the IGNITE study and co-first-authored the latest article with Maddison Mellow, PhD, from the University of South Australia. Results of IGNITE informed a second study now underway called the Follow-up Longitudinal Analysis of Moderate-intensity Exercise (FLAME), which is being led by AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute Director of Translational Neuroscience Kirk Erickson, PhD.

Key Findings of the IGNITE Study
A randomized, multi-site clinical trial, the IGNITE study tested a diverse sample of 648 adults between the ages of 65 and 80 and aimed to determine the influence of exercise on cognitive and brain health. In the current analysis using baseline data from the IGNITE study, the researchers examined associations between time spent in sleep, sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity across the 24-hour day, and cognitive performance.

Results found that when considering all lifestyle behaviors across the 24-hour day, higher amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were related to better cognitive performance, specifically processing speed, working memory, and executive function.

“Our results show that how we choose to spend our time across the 24-hour day may be differentially related to our brain health,” shares Dr. Collins. “We found that the need to prioritize physical activity, especially physical activity that gets our heart rates up, is key.”

Dr. Collins and her fellow researchers believe that understanding the interplay between different activities could empower older people to make positive health changes.

“With one in six people in the world expected to be 60 years or older by 2030, we need to make sure we are supporting and empowering people to age well,” comments Dr. Collins. “There are only 24 hours in a day, so every day, we make decisions about how we spend our time. If we sleep for eight hours, then there’s 16 hours remaining for waking behaviors like physical activity or sedentary behavior; that’s the basic reality. We hope that the knowledge gained through the IGNITE study is power: boost your physical activity and boost your brain health to stay fit and well as you age.”

Dr. Collins emphasizes that the current results are cross-sectional and need to be tested longitudinally and experimentally.

The FLAME Study – Further Exploration of the Relationship Between Moderate-Intensity Exercise and Brain Health in Older Adults
To test the long-term effects of IGNITE, the AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute is currently conducting the FLAME study, a national multisite effort funded with $11 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under the leadership of Dr. Erickson, this follow-up study is examining whether participation in moderate-intensity exercise interventions influences the rate of cognitive performance changes and risk for Alzheimer’s disease pathology five years later. The FLAME study is currently enrolling participants from the IGNITE study. It will also explore the extent to which those individuals maintain the exercise routines they started in IGNITE and determine whether there are any factors predicting long-term adherence to exercise behaviors.

The AdventHealth research team hopes to use the combined findings of IGNITE and FLAME to help inform future research and dementia prevention guidelines for all lifestyle behaviors across the 24-hour activity cycle continuum.

Learn more about the AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute here.