The Effectiveness of Exercise on Improving Cognitive Function in Older People (original) (raw)

2011, Journal of Nursing Research

This population is expected to continue to grow through the next 30 years. Thus, aging is an increasingly important focus of Taiwan public health. Aging affects the functioning of central nervous, skeletomuscular, cardiopulmonary, and other organ systems. Particularly, as a person ages, brain weight decreases 10% to 20%, blood flow slows by 30%Y40%, and the cranial nerve filament becomes entwined and develops plaque. These changes culminate in memory loss, reduced learning ability, and degradation of cognitive function, all of which undermine the independence of older people in their activities of daily living and generate stress on the family, society, the healthcare system, and the economy (Pang et al., 2002). As a population ages, the need for effective methods to slow the decline of cognitive function and even improve older adults' cognitive performance to maintain their independent function has become increasingly urgent. As such, the well-documented physical benefits of exercise and the value of exercise for improving mental health have grown in importance (Hoffman et al., 2008). In the last decade, the use of exercise to slow cognitive decline and maintain the fluid intelligence of older people has greatly increased. Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the relationship between exercise and cognitive functioning. First, the main hypothesis is that exercise directly affects brain structure and functions. Increases in aerobic capacity are thought to augment cerebral blood flow, improve the utilization of oxygen and glucose in the brain, accelerate the transport of biochemical waste substances to maintain a stable flow of blood, and enhance blood antioxidant enzyme (glutathione peroxidase, GSH-Px) activity to clear oxidative free radicals rapidly away (Radak et al., 2001). Second, exercise can promote the synthesis of neurogrowth factors such