Sport as mind jogging for older people: Jacobs University presents the first results of the project »Age on the move«

On August 21, 2008, the sports scientist Claudia Voelcker-Rehage, the neuroscientist Ben Godde and the psychologist Ursula M. Staudinger presented the first results of Jacobs University’s interdisciplinary research project “Age on the move” to the participating test persons and the project sponsors. Test data of 115 probands aged between 65 and 75 collected over a 12-months period clearly proved that regular endurance sports as well as gymnastic exercise lead to a marked improvement of the performance of older people’s brains.

[ Aug 21, 2008]  The aim of the research project under the lead of Claudia Voelcker-Rehage was to analyze the influence mechanisms of exercise and relaxation on the body, the mind and the general condition of older people. The participants were assigned to three groups with different training programs, in which they participated three times per week over a 12-months period: Nordic walking, coordination and balance training, and stretching and relaxation training.

At the end of the study period the two groups with active exercise programs showed a markedly improved performance in tests of attention control compared to the test results at the beginning of training phase. The probands made much more efficient use of their brain capacity to achieve fast and precise solutions in the attention tests, as could be proved by altered brain activation patterns visualized by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The positive effect on the cognitive performance differed depending on the type of exercise: While the Nordic walkers solved the tests faster, the coordination training participants achieved better and more precise results. The only test group without any detectable cognitive enhancement was the one with the stretching and relaxation program.

„At this point we can not yet say, which type of exercise is more effective for the enhancement of cognitive performance, as both, endurance sports and gymnastics, have a beneficial influence on our minds. The crucial element, however, seems to be active movement as part of the exercise as this apparently leads to faster and/or more effective processing of stimuli,” Claudia Voelcker-Rehage sums up the results.