Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 24:15:1346896.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1346896. eCollection 2024.

Time-course effects of exercise intervention on executive function in adolescents with obesity

Lingling Hu  1   2 , Qiqi Shen  1 , Hengchan Yin  1 , Lei Cui  1
Affiliations

Time-course effects of exercise intervention on executive function in adolescents with obesity

Lingling Hu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Objective: This study was to investigate the developmental characteristics of executive function (EF) in obese adolescents and the time-course effects of a 14-week exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training on EF in this population.

Methods: The experimental group of 28 obese junior high school students participated in the exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training, while the control group of 24 healthy weight junior high school students engaged in the regular recess exercise. EF, including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, was assessed 1 week prior to the exercise intervention and at 12 and 14 weeks post-intervention. Changes in EF sub-functions in both groups at different time points during the exercise intervention were analyzed.

Results: The findings revealed that obese junior high school students exhibited lower levels of inhibition (p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.848) and cognitive flexibility (p = 0.013, Cohen's d = 0.706) compared to their healthy weight peers. The exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training led to significant improvements in EF among obese junior high school students, with inhibition (p < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.713; p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.683) and cognitive flexibility (p = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.797; p < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.890) showing significant improvement at 12 and 14 weeks post-intervention, and working memory demonstrating significant improvement at 14 weeks (p = 0.004, Cohen's d = 0.710). No significant differences were observed in EF over time in healthy weight junior high school students.

Conclusion: Obese adolescents had impaired EF, as evidenced by low levels of the inhibition and cognitive flexibility compared to healthy weight adolescents. The exercise intervention combining aerobic exercise and resistance training had a positive effect on EF of obese adolescents. The time-course effects of the intervention on improvements in inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility varied with intervention duration in obese adolescents, with significant changes in inhibition and cognitive flexibility observed at 12 weeks and significant changes in working memory at 14 weeks.

Keywords: cognitive flexibility; executive functions; exercise; inhibition; obese adolescents; working memory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flanker task.
Figure 2
Figure 2
1-back task.
Figure 3
Figure 3
More-odd shifting task.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The monitoring figure of the individual average heart rate per activity of 4 obese junior high school students in the experimental group.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The monitoring figure of the overall average heart rate per activity of 4 obese junior high school students in the experimental group.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Temporal changes in inhibition in obese and healthy weight junior high school students.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Temporal changes in working memory in obese and healthy weight junior high school students.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Temporal changes in cognitive flexibility in obese and healthy weight junior high school students.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Changes of BMI in different groups before and after exercise intervention.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Changes of BFR in different groups before and after exercise intervention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Audiffren M., André N. (2019). The exercise–cognition relationship: a virtuous circle. J. Sport Health Sci. 8, 339–347. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2019.03.001, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Battaglia G., Agrò G., Cataldo P., Palma A., Alesi M. (2019). Influence of a specific aquatic program on social and gross motor skills in adolescents with autism Spectrum disorders: three case reports. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 4:27. doi: 10.3390/jfmk4020027, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bocarsly M. E., Fasolino M., Kane G. A., LaMarca E. A., Kirschen G. W., Karatsoreos I. N., et al. . (2015). Obesity diminishes synaptic markers, alters microglial morphology, and impairs cognitive function. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112, 15731–15736. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1511593112, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen Y., Spagna A., Wu T., Kim T. H., Wu Q., Chen C., et al. . (2019). Testing a cognitive control model of human intelligence. Sci. Rep. 9:2898. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39685-2, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen A. G., Yin H. C., Wang J., Li X. N., Song Z. (2011a). Magnetic resonance imaging study on the improvement of executive function in children with short moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. China Sport Sci. 31, 35–40. doi: 10.16469/j.css.2011.10.005 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources