Судлаачид 14 жилийн турш 3,093 хүний хөдөлгөөний идэвх болон танин мэдэхүйн сорилтын үр дүнг харьцуулан судалсан байна.
Baylor College of Medicine-ийн сэтгэцийн эмч Олаолува Окусага болон түүний баг АНУ-ын National Institutes of Health-ийн “All of Us” судалгааны хөтөлбөрийн хүрээнд цуглуулсан Fitbit төхөөрөмжийн мэдээлэл болон цусны даралтын үзүүлэлтүүдийг ашиглажээ. Судалгаанд оролцогчдын дундаж нас 58 байсан бөгөөд тэдний өдөр тутмын алхалтын тоог 2009-2023 оны хооронд хэмжсэн байна. 2023 оны есдүгээр сараас хойш оролцогчид анхаарал төвлөрөл, анхаарал сарниулах хүчин зүйлсийг үл тоомсорлох, урамшууллыг хүлээх эсвэл даруй авах сонголт, нүүр царайны хувирлыг таних зэрэг дөрвөн төрлийн танин мэдэхүйн сорил өгчээ.
Судалгааны үр дүнгээр идэвхтэй хөдөлгөөнтэй бүлгийн оролцогчид хамгийн бага хөдөлгөөнтэй бүлгийнхнээс анхаарал төвлөрөл, анхаарал сарниулах хүчин зүйлийг хянах, шийдвэр гаргах сорилтуудад илүү өндөр оноо авсан байна. Тухайлбал, нас, боловсрол, орлого зэрэг хүчин зүйлсийг тооцсоны дараа хамгийн идэвхтэй бүлгийнхний анхаарал төвлөрлийн оноо хамгийн бага идэвхтэй бүлгээс 2.17 пунктээр өндөр байжээ. Харин цусны даралт болон танин мэдэхүйн чадварын хамаарал нь илүү хязгаарлагдмал байсан бөгөөд систолын даралт ихсэх нь шийдвэр гаргах сорилтын гүйцэтгэлд бага зэрэг сөргөөр нөлөөлж байв.
Окусагагийн тайлбарласнаар, энэхүү судалгаа нь ажилдаа анхаарлаа төвлөрүүлэх, 충동 (импульсив) шийдвэр гаргахаас зайлсхийх, урт хугацааны зорилгодоо хүрэхэд идэвхтэй хөдөлгөөн хэрхэн нөлөөлж болохыг харуулж байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч судалгаа нь ажиглалтын шинжтэй тул хөдөлгөөн ба танин мэдэхүйн хоорондын шалтгаант холбоог бүрэн нотлоогүй бөгөөд хөдөлгөөн ихсэх нь танин мэдэхүйг сайжруулна гэсэн баталгааг өгөхгүй гэдгийг судлаачид онцолжээ. Мөн оролцогчдын танин мэдэхүйн чадварыг ганцхан удаа хэмжсэн нь өөрчлөлтийг тодорхойлоход хязгаарлалт болсон байна.
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A daily step count is a simple way to keep track of how much we move. It may also offer clues about our attention and decision-making skills.
Researchers examined activity records and cognitive test results from 3,093 US adults across 14 years to explore how everyday movement relates to thinking. They also looked at blood pressure.
“Across several cognitive domains, individuals in the more active groups tended to perform better on the cognitive measures,” psychiatrist Olaoluwa Okusaga of Baylor College of Medicine told ScienceAlert.
The team used Fitbit records and blood pressure measurements from the US National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program. Participants ranged from 18 to 93 years old, with an average age of about 58.
Many earlier studies relied on people reporting their own activity levels, which can be inaccurate. Wearable devices gave the researchers an objective measure of daily movement.
The records covered a 14-year window, from 2009 to 2023. Not everyone had data for the whole period, so the researchers estimated each person’s activity pattern from the measurements available.
From September 2023 onward, participants completed a single round of cognitive testing. Four tasks assessed sustained attention, the ability to ignore distracting information, preferences for immediate versus delayed rewards, and recognition of facial emotions.
Three groups emerged from the activity records, averaging 5,108, 8,875, and 14,161 daily steps. Both more active groups scored better than the least active group on the attention, distraction-control, and reward-choice tasks.
For example, after accounting for age, education, income, marital status, and birthplace, sustained-attention scores were an estimated 1.76 points higher in the middle activity group and 2.17 points higher in the most active group, compared with the least active group. The cognitive differences were small.
The findings add to research exploringhow daily steps relate to health. Here, the associations extended across skills with possible applications in everyday life.
“Examples might include maintaining concentration at work, avoiding impulsive decisions, and adhering to long-term goals such as saving money or following a health plan,” Okusaga explained.
Blood pressure showed a narrower association. Higher systolic pressure, the top number in a reading, was linked to slightly poorer performance on the reward-choice task. After adjustment for other factors, diastolic pressure, the bottom number, was not significantly associated with any of the four tests.
In a follow-up analysis, lower systolic pressure could statistically account for about 5 percent of the association between step counts and reward-choice scores. This estimate does not establish that lowering blood pressure improves cognition.
The researchers suggested that improved glucose metabolism, reduced inflammation, and the brain’s ability to adapt could help explain the link between activity and cognition. These mechanisms were not tested in this study.
Facial emotion recognition did not differ significantly between activity groups, and changes in activity over time were not significantly associated with cognitive performance.
The step counts also do not establish a daily target for better attention.
“Our study was observational and was not designed to determine an optimal number of daily steps for cognitive health,” Okusaga said.
Because cognition was measured only once, the researchers could not determine whether participants’ thinking skills had improved or declined. People’s existing cognitive abilities could also influence how active they remained. Everyday behavior, such as concentration at work or financial decisions, was not directly assessed.
The analysis could not account for smoking or obesity. The sample was largely White, about two-thirds were women, and nearly all had at least some college education, which limits how broadly the results apply.
“Our findings support an association between long-term physical activity and later cognitive performance, but they do not prove that physical activity causes better cognition,” Okusaga said.
Repeated cognitive assessments in future All of Us data could help researchers investigate whether staying active is associated with changes in attention and other thinking skills over time.
The research has been published in Scientific Reports.
This article was fact-checked by Fiona MacDonald and edited by Fiona MacDonald. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know.
