Effects of Two Different Exercises on Cognition

Modern society adapts to the sedentary lifestyle. This global trend is a major threat to public health because inactivity is the leading cause of global mortality. In addition, low physical activity is related to risk of hypertension, obesity, type II diabetes, cancer, and many other chronic diseases.

There is evidence that regular physical activity contributes to primary and secondary prevention of various chronic diseases. It is claimed that physical activity can also affect cognitive functions, reduce dementia risk in addition to health benefits. However, studies investigating the effects on cognitive functions such as attention, learning and memory are limited.

As a method of physical activity, the effects of aerobic and resistive exercises on cognitive functions were generally investigated in the research.Pilates based exercises commonly used in recent studies and its effectiveness investigated in various fields are also a physical activity method with six principles including concentration, control, centering, flowing movement, precision and breathing. Pilates-based exercises that require mentally focusing on the targeted body region, develop body-mind connection, aim to increase the quality of movement by neuromuscular methods with directing attention to the moving part of body segment, appear to be a way to positively affect cognitive functions.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of Pilates-based exercises on cognitive functions in comparison with aerobic exercises.

Individuals in the 4-weeks study will be divided into two groups using the Graphpad website: Clinical Pilates exercise group (Group 1), aerobic exercise group (Group 2). The Power and Sample Size version 3.1.2 (PS) programme was used to calculate the sample size. Because of the lack of "minimal clinical important difference" value for the Stroop test in the literature while the sample size calculation, the standard deviation value was set to 60 (σ) (derived from a similar study), the change in the means (δ) was set as 50 in the formula (power 80%, α 0.05). The sample size for each group was calculated as 24 people. Considering the possibility of %10 drops, 27 individuals will be included in each group and a total of 54 cases in the study. Individuals will be enrolled according to the inclusion criteria.

First, the socio-demographic information of the participants will be collected with a prepared form. Individuals will be assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form, Nelson Speed of Movement Test, Verbal Fluency Test and Stroop Test at pre-study and 4th week.

SPSS statistical program will be used for statistical analysis. The Shapiro Wilk test will be performed to determine the normal distribution suitability of the data. The difference between the continuous variables in the groups will be compared with the Independent T test. Paired Simple T-Test will be used to evaluate changes in each group before and after the program. In all analyzes p<0.05 will be considered statistically significant.

Inclusion criteria

• Being a healthy individual between the ages of 18-25,
• No problem with reading, writing or understanding Turkish,
• According to International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form being physically inactive (< 600 MET (metabolic equivalent of task)/mins),
• Volunteering and sustainability to the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Musculoskeletal system problems that prevent exercising,
• Cardiovascular system disorders such as myocardial infarction, angina, exercise intolerance, uncontrolled hypertension, etc. that limit effort capacity,
• Neurological disorder or cognitive dysfunction such as stroke, dementia, schizophrenia, etc.,
• Pregnancy,
• Smoking,
• Achromatopsia,
• Body Mass Index (BMI) higher > 35,
• Beck Depression Scale score ≥ 17.