Exercise duration for cognitive health in breast cancer survivors

Awick, Elizabeth A.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/97558 Copy

Description

Title

Exercise duration for cognitive health in breast cancer survivors

Author(s)

Awick, Elizabeth A.

Issue Date

2017-04-11

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

McAuley, Edward

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

McAuley, Edward

Committee Member(s)

• Kramer, Arthur F.
• Hillman, Charles
• Trinh, Linda

Department of Study

Kinesiology & Community Health

Discipline

Kinesiology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Breast cancer
• Physical activity
• Acute exercise
• Cognitive function

Abstract

Many breast cancer survivors report deficits in cognitive functioning. Physical activity (PA) has been associated with better processing speed and memory and may prove a useful behavioral modality for improving cognition in breast cancer survivors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the differential duration effects of acute bouts of PA on executive function and processing speed in breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer survivors (N=48, M age=56.02) completed two sessions in counterbalanced order: moderate-intensity treadmill walking and seated rest. Participants were also randomized to one of three time groups: 10 (n=15), 20 (n=16), or 30 (n=17) minutes, signifying the length of time spent walking and resting. Immediately before and after each session, women completed a battery of cognitive tasks. Within- and between-subjects repeated measures analyses of variance revealed several moderately-sized and meaningful three-way (e.g., time by activity by group) interactions. On the flanker task, women were significantly less accurate over time in the resting activity compared with the exercise activity in the 20-minute group (d = .75). On single task blocks of the task switching paradigm, women performed significant slower after resting compared with after exercising in both the 10- (d = -.96) and 30-minute (d = -.52) groups. On the processing speed task, women performed significantly faster after exercising compared with after resting in the 20-minute group (d = -.24). Upon collapsing the sample for nonsignificant three-way interactions, two significant time by activity interactions emerged. Specifically, women performed significantly faster on the 2-item Spatial Working Memory task (d = -.21) and more accurately on the 3-item Spatial Working Memory task (d = .18) after exercise compared with after rest. Notably, these effects were irrespective of time spent exercising and resting. While the optimal length of exercise for providing short-lived cognitive benefits remains unclear, this study offers some initial preliminary evidence for maintained and improved cognitive function after a bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise compared with seated rest in breast cancer survivors.

Graduation Semester

2017-05

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97558

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Elizabeth Awick

Owning Collections