The mechanism of a 16-Week Baduanjin intervention in altering neural inhibition responses to food cues in healthy adults - an ERP study.

Abstract

The positive impact of exercise on inhibitory control has been validated in numerous studies; however, few studies have explored the effect of long-term exercise on food-related inhibitory control. The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of long-term exercise on the inhibitory response to food cues and the underlying neural mechanism. We recruited 51 healthy participants who were pseudo randomly divided into an exercise group and a non-exercise group, body mass index (BMI), age and sex. The exercise group underwent 16 weeks of Baduanjin intervention at a frequency of 3 days/week for 60 min/session. The assessment consisted of a personal information questionnaire, a hunger questionnaire and Go/NoGo tasks. The electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded as the participants performed the Go/NoGo task. Only EEG data for the NoGo stimuli were analysed. The participants were asked to complete the entire procedure at baseline and within 1 week after the end of the exercise. There were 26 participants in the exercise group (age: 18.90 ± 0.49; number of females (%): 23 (88.46%); BMI: 21.79 ± 4.40) and 25 participants in the control group (age: 19.19 ± 0.63; number of females (%):20 (80.00%); BMI: 21.26 ± 3.36).A significant interaction effect of group and time on NoGo accuracy and N2/P2/P3 amplitudes was observed. Specifically, 16 weeks of Baduanjin exercise significantly increased NoGo accuracy, decreased the N2 amplitude and increased the P2/P3 amplitudes for food-related NoGo stimuli. We speculated that exercise may improve inhibitory control by reasonably regulating the allocation of attentional resources and improving the strategic orientation of attention.