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Associations of Light, Leisure-time Physical Activity with Short-term Episodic Memory in Middle-aged and Older Americans : Results from the MIDUS study

Huang, Olive

Physical activity (PA) is robustly linked to cognitive benefits (e.g., improved executive function, memory, and processing speed). Whereas most research has focused on moderate-tovigorous PA and its positive effects, light PA (LPA) has been relatively less investigated. Specifically, there is a paucity of longitudinal research on LPA and episodic memory, with existing literature mostly being experimental studies that are based on young adult samples. This study aimed to fill this gap by investigating the correlations between light, leisure-time PA and short-term episodic memory in middle-aged to older adults (N = 2288). Using a 9-year longitudinal dataset from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS), the present analyses examined the cross-sectional correlations between LPA and short-term episodic memory at baseline and follow-up, and the longitudinal correlation between baseline LPA and changes in short-term episodic memory. As predicted, LPA was correlated with cross-sectional episodic memory at both times; the correlations remained significant after controlling for sex and age. However, LPA was not longitudinally correlated with 9-year episodic memory changes, which may be due to the sample’s high education level or the restricted range of self-reported LPA values, with over half of the participants selecting the highest LPA level (“several times a week”). Although no longitudinal relationship was observed, our results suggest that higher LPA is associated with better cross-sectional episodic memory in middle-age to older adults. Strategies to incorporate LPA into health guidelines and cognitive interventions may have benefits for memory and buffering age-related cognitive decline. Future studies should examine mechanisms mediating the relationship between LPA and episodic memory, and would benefit from combining self-report assessments with behavioural measures (e.g., activity trackers)

Text

University of British Columbia. PSYC 340

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0413186

Arts, Faculty of; Psychology, Department of

Undergraduate

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