Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Hippocampal Changes Following a 6-month Yoga and Aerobic Intervention
Poster No:
920
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Angeles Tepper1, Jessica Hayes2, Paul Camacho3, Emily Erlenbach4, Stephanie Voss3, Edward McAuley3, Brad Sutton3, Nicholas Burd3, Jessica Damoiseaux2, Neha Gothe1
Institutions:
1Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 2Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 3University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana Champaign, IL, 4Exos, San Francisco, CA
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Aging affects hippocampal volume and it is associated with cognitive decline (Bettio, 2017; Toda, 2019). Physical activity positively affects brain function and cognition (Hillman, 2008; Erickson, 2009). Also, changes in cardiorespiratory fitness are related to increases in hippocampal volume in older adults (Erickson, 2011; Jonasson, 2017). But older adults may face physical and psychological limitations that hinder them from engaging in physical activity (McMurdo, 2012). Yoga emerges as an alternative modality of physical activity. Yoga has positive effects on cognition and mental health (Gothe, 2015; Chobe, 2020), and studies have shown greater hippocampal volume among yoga experts (Gothe, 2018). But this literature is limited by small sample sizes and mostly cross-sectional designs. This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of yoga, aerobic and stretch-n-tone exercises on hippocampal volume of older adults, and explored its associations with cardiorespiratory fitness.
Methods:
We recruited 145 low-active older adults for a randomized controlled trial (NCT04323163). Participants were randomized into three groups: aerobics, Hatha yoga, and stretch-n-tone (active control). All interventions consisted of an hour-long group exercise session led by certified instructors 3x/week for 6 months. This study was funded by the National Institute on Aging award AG066630. At baseline and after the 6 months, participants completed an MRI brain scan and a maximal graded exercise test to assess VO2max. Four participants did not complete MRI scans and five others were excluded at quality checks. We analyzed T1w images with FreeSurfer v6.0.1 longitudinal pipelines to extract measures of hippocampal volumes corrected for total intracranial volume. We used linear mixed effects models to explore the effects of the intervention on brain structure and cardiorespiratory fitness. Covariates were age, sex, and attendance to the intervention. Similar models were used to test the effects of VO2max on brain structure across groups.
Results:
The final sample consisted of 136 older adults (mean age 64; 102 female). Our results showed decreased hippocampal volume across all exercise groups after the intervention (left: b=-0.016, p=0.005; right: b=-0.010, p=0.062), and did not reveal any significant difference between groups(Figure 1). Hippocampal volume was associated with age (left: b=-0.021, p<0.001; right: b=-0.020, p<0.001) and sex (left: female b=0.204, p<0.001; right: b=0.201, p<0.001), with older individuals and male participants having smaller hippocampi. The overall effect of the intervention on VO2max was not significant (b=0.768, p=0.131), and we did not observe any VO2max differences across groups. Across time, VO2max was negatively associated with age (b=-0.391, p<0.001) and sex (female b=-5.120, p<0.001), with older individuals and female participants having lower cardiorespiratory fitness. For the right hippocampus, higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with reduced changes in volume (b=0.002, p<0.001)(Figure 2).
·Figure 1
·Figure 2
Conclusions:
We did not observe significant differences in hippocampal volume or cardiovascular fitness after the intervention. Also, unlike other studies (Erickson, 2011), we did not find a direct effect of aerobic exercise on the volume of the hippocampus. This could be explained by methodological differences in the intervention delivery (online, hybrid aerobics class) as compared to in-person aerobic or treadmill walking protocols in previous studies. The differences could also be related to the lack of significant group mean changes in VO2max after the 6-month intervention. The right hippocampus showed reduced decline in subjects with higher VO2max levels, suggesting a protective effect of cardiorespiratory fitness, which is consistent with previous findings (Erickson, 2011). Future work should examine the association of cardiorespiratory fitness with hippocampal subfields as well as the impact of exercise modalities on other brain regions.
Lifespan Development:
Aging 1
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Subcortical Structures 2
Keywords:
Aging
Behavioral Therapy
MRI
STRUCTURAL MRI
Other - cardiorespiratory fitness
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Provide references using APA citation style.
Chobe, S. (2020). Impact of Yoga on cognition and mental health among elderly: A systematic review. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 52, 102421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102421
Erickson, K. I. (2009). Aerobic exercise effects on cognitive and neural plasticity in older adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(1), 22–24. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2008.052498
Erickson, K. I. (2011). Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 3017–3022. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1015950108
Gothe, N. P. (2018). Differences in Brain Structure and Function Among Yoga Practitioners and Controls. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 12, 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2018.00026
Gothe, N. P. (2015). Yoga and Cognition: A Meta-Analysis of Chronic and Acute Effects. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(7), 784–797.
Hillman, C. H. (2008) Be smart, exercise your heart: Exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(1), 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2298
Jonasson, L. S. (2017). Aerobic Exercise Intervention, Cognitive Performance, and Brain Structure: Results from the Physical Influences on Brain in Aging (PHIBRA) Study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00336
McMurdo, M. E. T. (2012). Social, Environmental and Psychological Factors Associated with Objective Physical Activity Levels in the Over 65s. PLOS ONE, 7(2), e31878. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031878
Toda, T. (2019). The role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in brain health and disease. Molecular Psychiatry, 24(1), 67–87