An Acute Bout of Dynamic Sitting Exercises Improves Stroop Performance and Quality of Sleep in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Sports Science, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin,

2 Department of Motor Behavior, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.4103/iahs.iahs_23_19

Abstract

Aims: 
The study was aimed at identifying the acute effects of dynamic sitting exercises (DSE) on Stroop performance and quality of sleep in elderly persons with cognitive impairment.
Materials and Methods: 
Sixty-eight elderly males with cognitive impairment were attended in research voluntarily, following screening tests, 62 participants were assigned randomly assigned to either DSE or control groups. At the end, 5 participants discontinued from the study. The experimental group participated in eight sessions of DSE in 2 weeks (four sessions a week). The exercise protocol consisted of stepping patterns on a chair; stretching and finger movements. The Stroop test was used to evaluate the cognitive performance of participants before and after exercise intervention. Actiwatch 7 was used to measure sleep quality. Paired t-test and independent t-test were used to analyze the data.
Results: 
It was suggested that Stroop performance was positively affected by DSE (P ≤ 0.05); meanwhile, no statistically significant change was found in the control group (P ≥ 0.05). All parameters of sleep patterns, including sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, and movement and fragmentation index, were improved significantly (P ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: 
Although the aging process besides the environmental factors, especially lifestyle could result in cognitive impairment, DSE would improve the cognitive performance in Stroop performance test.

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