1Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; 2Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; and 3Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2016 Oct;48(10):1994-2002. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000974.
A positive association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and cognitive function has been demonstrated mainly in children and older adults. Women attending college live in a cognitively demanding setting where optimal cognition matters but often experience declines in CRF. Our aim was to test whether CRF is associated with executive function in young adult women.
Participants in this cross-sectional study included 120 healthy women age 18-35 yr in a university setting. Each woman completed a maximal treadmill-based exercise test to determine peak oxygen uptake (V˙O2peak), computerized tests of executive function, and questionnaires to assess motivation and other factors with potential to influence physical and cognitive performance.
Overall CRF was excellent, with a sample mean V˙O2peak of 44.6 mL·min·kg. After adjusting for covariates, higher V˙O2peak was associated with better performance on attention (P < 0.01), learning/shifting (P < 0.01), working memory (P < 0.01), and problem-solving (P < 0.05) tasks. Likewise, when women were grouped according to the American College of Sports Medicine fitness classification, performance on executive function tasks was poorest in women with very poor or poor CRF. Women with superior CRF performed best on executive function tasks, and performance was intermediate in women with fair, good, or excellent CRF.
The findings from this cross-sectional study suggest that optimal cognition is related to CRF in young adult women. Future studies are needed to test whether strategies to improve CRF are effective in improving cognitive function.
心肺适能（CRF）与认知功能之间呈正相关，这主要在儿童和老年人中得到证实。上大学的女性生活在一个认知要求高的环境中，在这种环境中，最佳认知能力很重要，但她们的 CRF 往往会下降。我们的目的是测试 CRF 是否与年轻成年女性的执行功能有关。
本横断面研究的参与者包括在大学环境中的 120 名健康的 18-35 岁女性。每位女性都完成了一项基于跑步机的最大运动测试，以确定峰值摄氧量（V˙O2peak），执行功能的计算机测试，以及评估动机和其他可能影响身体和认知表现的潜在因素的问卷。
总体 CRF 非常好，样本平均 V˙O2peak 为 44.6 mL·min·kg。在校正协变量后，较高的 V˙O2peak 与注意力（P < 0.01）、学习/转换（P < 0.01）、工作记忆（P < 0.01）和解决问题（P < 0.05）任务的表现更好相关。同样，当根据美国运动医学学院的健身分类将女性分组时，CRF 非常差或差的女性在执行功能任务上的表现最差。具有优越 CRF 的女性在执行功能任务上表现最好，而 CRF 一般、良好或优秀的女性表现居中。
这项横断面研究的结果表明，最佳认知与年轻成年女性的 CRF 有关。未来的研究需要测试提高 CRF 的策略是否有效改善认知功能。
