Physical Activity & Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Inactivity during childhood often tracks throughout life and has implications for the increased prevalence of several chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes) in adulthood. Further, it is well-founded that efficiency of cognitive performance declines with advancing age leading to decrements in older adults’ quality of life. However, largely absent from public health concerns is the relationship between physical inactivity and cognitive health across the lifespan. It is of interest to determine the extent to which physical activity and fitness influence cognition during maturation and aging to enhance cognitive health and effective function throughout the entire lifespan.

Accordingly, our research on physical activity/fitness has predominantly focused on aspects of cognition that are mediated by the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus; brain regions and their associated networks, which are especially susceptible to physical activity intervention. Such aspects of cognition include executive control and relational/associative memory and learning. Prior findings from our research have indicated that preadolescent children and older adults with greater amounts of aerobic fitness (investigated either cross-sectionally or through randomized controlled interventions) have differential volume and greater integrity of brain structures (measured via MRI) underlying executive control and memory. Functional imaging measures including fMRI, EEG/ERPs, and eye-tracking findings from our lab have demonstrated differences in brain function with greater amounts of fitness or engagement in physical activity intervention. Such brain outcomes are accompanied by differences in behavioral outcomes that demonstrate advantages as a function of participation in physical activity or higher cardiorespiratory fitness. In the case of children, our work has demonstrated that such benefits extend to academic outcomes as well.