2023-12-04 20:22:00
Study participants experienced an improvement in cognitive performance following a 20-minute bout of cycling (Pexels)
A new investigation explored how lack of sleep, oxygen levels, and exercise affect our ability to engage in intellectual activities and cognitive performance.
Sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and it is recommended for adults to spend between seven and nine hours per night. However, recent reviews indicate that 40 percent of the world’s population does not get enough sleep.
Dr. Diego Golombek, senior researcher at Conicet at the University of San Andrés and at the National University of Quilmes, explained to Infobae that balanced mental health is invariably linked to robust circadian rhythms, “to being active during the day, exposed to light, ideally sunlight, although it can also be artificial light, and sleeping in darkness, in a quiet and warm place during the night. Clearly, affecting these rhythms has multiple health consequences, including brain health and mental health.”
Consequences of chronic sleep deprivation include cardiovascular disease, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders, and depression. In the short term, lack of sleep can reduce cognitive performance (CR), affecting attention span, judgment, and emotional state.
Even when exercise was performed in an environment with low oxygen levels, participants had brain benefits from exercise, they were still able to perform cognitive tasks better than at rest under the same conditions (Illustrative Image Infobae)
He study led by the University of Portsmouth found that cognitive performance improves during a series of moderate-intensity exercises, regardless of the person’s sleep state or oxygen levels.
Dr Joe Costello, from the University’s School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences (SHES), said: “We know from existing research that exercise improves or maintains our cognitive performance, even when oxygen levels are reduced. . But this is the first study to claim that it also improves CR following total and partial sleep deprivation and when combined with hypoxia.”
“The findings significantly expand what we know regarding the relationship between exercise and these stressors, and help reinforce the message that movement is medicine for the body and brain,” Costello said.
The study, published in the journal Physiology and Behavior, involved two experiments, each with 12 participants (24 in total). The first looked at the impact of partial sleep deprivation on a person’s cognitive performance, and the second looked at the impact of complete sleep deprivation and hypoxia.
In both, all participants experienced an improvement in cognitive performance following a 20-minute bout of cycling.
In the short term, lack of sleep can reduce cognitive performance (CR), which affects attention span, judgment and emotional state (Illustrative image Infobae)
“Because we viewed exercise as a positive intervention, we decided to use a moderate-intensity program as recommended by existing literature,” said Dr. Costello, adding: “If the exercise had been longer or harder, it might have amplified the negative outcomes and have become a stressor in itself.”
Dr. Alejandro Andersson, neurologist, medical director of the Buenos Aires Neurology Institute, INBA and also a recreational cyclist, explained to Infobae in a recent note: “Science supports the benefits of exercise for mental health, and there are more and more studies that suggest that cycling may be especially beneficial. “This is thought to be due to the cognitive skills that come into play when cycling, such as balance and decision making.”
In addition, the doctor highlighted, “physical activity, such as cycling, can stimulate the growth of new cells in areas of the brain related to memory and problem solving and strengthen connections between neurons.”
“The findings significantly expand what we know regarding the relationship between exercise and these stressors, and help reinforce the message that movement is medicine for the body and brain,” said one of the study authors (Lifestock).
In the first experiment, individuals were only allowed five hours of sleep per night, for three days. Each morning they would be assigned seven tasks to perform at rest and then while cycling. They were also asked to rate their sleepiness and mood before completing the tasks.
The results showed that the effects of three nights of partial sleep on executive functions were inconsistent. The article says that one explanation for this might be that some people are more resistant to a mild or moderate sleep deficit. However, regardless of sleep, moderate-intensity exercise improved performance on all tasks.
In the second experiment, participants went an entire night without sleep and were then placed in a hypoxic (low oxygen levels) environment in the university’s Extreme Environments Laboratories. Even though oxygen levels were reduced, exercise continued to improve cognitive performance.
Co-lead author Dr. Thomas Williams, from the university’s Extreme Environments Research Group, explained why the team decided to examine a combination of stressors for the study: “Lack of sleep is often experienced in combination with other stressors.” stressful. For example, people who travel to high altitudes, such as climbers, are also likely to experience a disruption in their sleep patterns.”
New research explored how lack of sleep, oxygen levels and exercise affect our ability to perform intellectual activities and cognitive performance (iStock)
“A possible hypothesis for why exercise improves cognitive performance is related to increased cerebral blood flow and oxygenation; However, our findings suggest that even when exercise was performed in an environment with low oxygen levels, participants were still able to perform cognitive tasks better than at rest under the same conditions.”
The article says that explanations for why CR improves during exercise, even when a person is sleep-deprived and low on oxygen, might be changes in the amount of regulatory hormones in the brain, as well as a number of psychophysiological factors including the cerebral blood flow, arousal and motivation.
This study states that cognitive performance does not depend solely on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) area of the brain, although it plays an integral role in completing tasks.
“The PFC is very sensitive to its neurochemical environment and very susceptible to stress,” explained co-lead author Juan Ignacio Badariotti, from the University’s Department of Psychology.
Physical activity, such as cycling, can stimulate the growth of new cells in areas of the brain related to memory and problem solving and strengthen connections between neurons (Illustrative Image Infobae)
“It regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions and is considered the main part of the brain associated with executive functions.”
He added: “But our findings suggest that the mechanisms behind CR may not be isolated in this area and, instead, we should consider that it is the product of a series of coordinated processes widely distributed in different cortical and subcortical regions.”
The article recommends further research to reveal what neurobiological mechanisms are behind the process of cognitive function. This discovery would help anyone experiencing sleep problems or low oxygen levels, including climbers and skiers, but also parents of young children and shift workers.
The authors also acknowledge that only young, healthy people were included in this study, and that several individuals were withdrawn due to adverse events. They hope to conduct more research on the relationship between CR and stressors, with a broader mix of participants.
The study was a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the University of Chichester, the University of Surrey, Teesside University, Tokyo University of Electrocommunications, Japan, and Sao Paulo State University in Brazil.
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