
Exercise, Mindfulness Training Found Not to Boost Cognitive Performance in Older Adults

ST. LOUIS — Exercise and mindfulness training under the supervision of coaches may have a wealth of benefits, but according to a new study, boosting cognitive performance isn’t one of them.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and the University of California, San Diego, studied the cognitive effects of exercise, mindfulness training or both for up to 18 months in older adults who reported age-related changes in memory but had not been diagnosed with any form of dementia.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to the researchers, all 585 participants in their study, people aged 65 to 84, said they worried about memory problems and other age-related cognitive declines.
They were divided into groups that did exercise, mindfulness, both or neither.
After 18 months, the researchers tested their memory and did brain scans, but found no significant difference among the groups in terms of cognitive improvement or increased brain volume.
The researchers said there are several potential causes for their findings.
First, all groups showed increases in cognitive performance over time, so it could be posited that all interventions (including health education) benefited participants equally and these increases reflect those benefits, and thus the study failed due to lack of a proper negative control.
Arguing against this idea is that the health education intervention was designed for this study so that it would not specifically target cognition.
Further, if cognitive performance increases represented true benefits, one would expect to see a reflection of those benefits in brain structures, yet both structures showed longitudinal declines with all conditions, consistent with age-related atrophy not attenuated by the interventions. In addition, the combination of MBSR and exercise showed no greater change than each intervention alone.
Thus, the increases in cognitive performance likely reflect expectancy or practice effects from repeated exposure to the assessments.
Another potential cause of the findings was failure in target engagement, which could result from poor participant adherence, low intervention fidelity by instructors, low intensity of interventions or low reliability of outcome measures.
Yet another possibility accounting for lack of detectable effect of interventions is that participants were generally healthy and potentially insufficiently sedentary at baseline, thereby limiting potential for benefiting from lifestyle interventions.
The researchers are continuing the study to see if the results will change given additional time.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
In The News
Health
Voting
Mental Health
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In Florida, Republican lawmakers have introduced a bevy of new legislation that will, if passed, restrict certain... Read More
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In Florida, Republican lawmakers have introduced a bevy of new legislation that will, if passed, restrict certain health educational materials used in state schools. One such bill, House Bill 1069, would limit children below sixth grade from discussing their menstrual cycles in school. ... Read More
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are teaming up with Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” on... Read More
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are teaming up with Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” on Monday to highlight “the importance of addressing your mental health to promote overall well-being.” The first couple hosted actor Jason Sudeikis and other members of the... Read More
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., checked himself into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on... Read More
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., checked himself into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Wednesday night to receive treatment for clinical depression, his office said Thursday. The senator, who suffered a near-fatal stroke while running for office last year, was... Read More
The pandemic took a harsh toll on U.S. teen girls’ mental health, with almost 60% reporting feelings of persistent sadness... Read More
The pandemic took a harsh toll on U.S. teen girls’ mental health, with almost 60% reporting feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to a government survey released Monday that bolsters earlier data. Sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior and other mental health woes affected many... Read More
The coolest thing on social media these days may be celebrities and regular folks plunging into frigid water or taking... Read More
The coolest thing on social media these days may be celebrities and regular folks plunging into frigid water or taking ice baths. The touted benefits include improved mood, more energy, weight loss and reduced inflammation, but the science supporting some of those claims is lukewarm. Kim... Read More
HONOLULU — Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is continuing to press law enforcement and other officials to stem the rising tide... Read More
HONOLULU — Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is continuing to press law enforcement and other officials to stem the rising tide of gender-based violence and sex-trafficking involving Native Hawaiian women and girls. Recently she traveled back to the big island from Washington for discussion on the issue... Read More