Green exercise versus indoor urban exercise: Related frontal brain thickness and cognitive performance

IF 2.3 3区医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

Mental Health and Physical Activity Pub Date : 2024-10-01 DOI:10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100649

Antonio Baena-Extremera , Cristina Martín-Pérez , Andrés Catena , Julio Fuentesal-García

{"title":"Green exercise versus indoor urban exercise: Related frontal brain thickness and cognitive performance","authors":"Antonio Baena-Extremera , Cristina Martín-Pérez , Andrés Catena , Julio Fuentesal-García","doi":"10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100649","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and aims</h3><div>This study compared, for the first time, cognitive function, and the cortical thickness of frontal areas in healthy adults who exercise regularly in outdoor green spaces (\"green exercise group,\" GEG; n = 22, mean age = 39.91 years, females = 11) with those who exercise in indoor urban settings (\"urban exercise group,\" UEG; n = 25, mean age = 40 years, females = 11). We further explored the associations between frontal brain thickness and cognitive measures in each group separately.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Forty-seven healthy adults participated. All underwent a neuropsychological evaluation for short-term memory, working memory, and attention. High-resolution T1-weighted 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired for each participant. The thickness of frontal brain regions was extracted and exported to JASP software for statistical analyses.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The GEG performed better on working memory and short-term memory tasks compared to the UEG. Additionally, the GEG exhibited increased thickness in the right anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and the right superior frontal sulcus (rSFS). These areas were associated with short-term memory within the GEG. Fisher's test and Zou's intervals revealed that only the correlation between the rSFS and short-term memory was significantly different between the UEG and GEG.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings suggest that exercising in outdoor natural areas might be related to better cognitive function and greater brain thickness in frontal areas. This study will contribute to the growing body of evidence linking brain, cognition and exercising in natural areas. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51589,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Physical Activity","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100649"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mental Health and Physical Activity","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755296624000760","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background and aims

This study compared, for the first time, cognitive function, and the cortical thickness of frontal areas in healthy adults who exercise regularly in outdoor green spaces ("green exercise group," GEG; n = 22, mean age = 39.91 years, females = 11) with those who exercise in indoor urban settings ("urban exercise group," UEG; n = 25, mean age = 40 years, females = 11). We further explored the associations between frontal brain thickness and cognitive measures in each group separately.

Method

Forty-seven healthy adults participated. All underwent a neuropsychological evaluation for short-term memory, working memory, and attention. High-resolution T1-weighted 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired for each participant. The thickness of frontal brain regions was extracted and exported to JASP software for statistical analyses.

Results

The GEG performed better on working memory and short-term memory tasks compared to the UEG. Additionally, the GEG exhibited increased thickness in the right anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and the right superior frontal sulcus (rSFS). These areas were associated with short-term memory within the GEG. Fisher's test and Zou's intervals revealed that only the correlation between the rSFS and short-term memory was significantly different between the UEG and GEG.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that exercising in outdoor natural areas might be related to better cognitive function and greater brain thickness in frontal areas. This study will contribute to the growing body of evidence linking brain, cognition and exercising in natural areas. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.

查看原文本刊更多论文

绿色运动与城市室内运动：相关的大脑额叶厚度和认知能力

背景和目的本研究首次比较了经常在室外绿地锻炼的健康成年人（"绿色锻炼组"，GEG；n = 22，平均年龄 = 39.91 岁，女性 = 11）与在室内城市环境中锻炼的健康成年人（"城市锻炼组"，UEG；n = 25，平均年龄 = 40 岁，女性 = 11）的认知功能和额叶皮质厚度。我们还分别探讨了每个组别中大脑额叶厚度与认知测量之间的关联。所有人都接受了短期记忆、工作记忆和注意力的神经心理学评估。每位参与者都接受了高分辨率 T1 加权三维磁共振成像（MRI）扫描。结果与 UEG 相比，GEG 在工作记忆和短期记忆任务中表现更好。此外，GEG 表现出右前扣带回皮层（rACC）和右上额沟（rSFS）厚度增加。这些区域与 GEG 中的短时记忆有关。费舍尔检验和邹氏区间检验显示，只有 rSFS 与短期记忆的相关性在 UEG 和 GEG 之间存在显著差异。这项研究将为越来越多的证据证明大脑、认知和在自然区域锻炼之间的联系做出贡献。还需要进一步的研究来证实这些发现并探索其潜在机制。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Mental Health and Physical Activity PSYCHIATRY-

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

6.40%

发文量

审稿时长

32 days

期刊介绍： The aims of Mental Health and Physical Activity will be: (1) to foster the inter-disciplinary development and understanding of the mental health and physical activity field; (2) to develop research designs and methods to advance our understanding; (3) to promote the publication of high quality research on the effects of physical activity (interventions and a single session) on a wide range of dimensions of mental health and psychological well-being (eg, depression, anxiety and stress responses, mood, cognitive functioning and neurological disorders, such as dementia, self-esteem and related constructs, psychological aspects of quality of life among people with physical and mental illness, sleep, addictive disorders, eating disorders), from both efficacy and effectiveness trials;