Mücke Manuel, Ludyga Sebastian, Colledge Flora, Pühse Uwe, Gerber Markus
Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Sport Science Section, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 10;11:581965. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581965. eCollection 2020.
High psychosocial stress can impair executive function in adolescents, whereas acute exercise has been reported to benefit this cognitive domain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an acute bout of aerobic exercise improves the inhibitory aspect of executive function and the associated dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) oxygenation when under stress.
Sixty male high school students aged 16-20 years performed a Stroop task (baseline condition) and were randomly assigned to an exercise group (30 min on ergometer at 70% of maximum heart rate) and a control group (30 min of reading). Subsequently, all participants underwent a modified Trier Social Stress Test, which included a Stroop task under enhanced stress. The Stroop tasks in both conditions were combined with functional near-infrared spectroscopy to record changes in DLPFC oxygenation in response to the tasks. Stress reactivity was measured with saliva samples (cortisol, alpha-amylase), heart rate monitoring, and anxiety scores.
All stress parameters indicated increases in response to the stressor ( < 0.001), with higher alpha-amylase [(58) = -3.45, = 0.001, = 1.93] and anxiety [(58) = -2.04, = 0.046, = 0.53] reactions in the control compared to the exercise group. Controlling for these two parameters, repeated measures analyses of covariance targeting changes in Stroop interference scores showed no main effect of stress [(1,58) = 3.80, = 0.056, ηp = 0.063] and no stress × group interaction [(1,58) = 0.43, = 0.517, ηp = 0.008]. Similarly, there was no main effect of stress [(1,58) = 2.38, = 0.128, ηp = 0.040] and no stress × group interaction [(1,58) = 2.80, = 0.100, ηp = 0.047] for DLPFC oxygenation.
Our study confirms potentially health-enhancing effects of acute exercise on some of the physiological and psychological stress reactivity indicators. However, our data do not support the notion of an effect on interference control and DLPFC activation under stress.
高度的心理社会压力会损害青少年的执行功能，而据报道，急性运动对这一认知领域有益。本研究的目的是调查急性有氧运动是否能改善应激状态下执行功能的抑制方面以及相关的背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）氧合作用。
60名年龄在16 - 20岁的男性高中生进行了一项斯特鲁普任务（基线条件），并被随机分为运动组（在测力计上以最大心率的70%进行30分钟运动）和对照组（30分钟阅读）。随后，所有参与者都接受了改良的特里尔社会应激测试，其中包括在增强应激条件下的斯特鲁普任务。两种条件下的斯特鲁普任务都与功能近红外光谱相结合，以记录DLPFC氧合作用对任务的反应变化。通过唾液样本（皮质醇、α -淀粉酶）、心率监测和焦虑评分来测量应激反应性。
所有应激参数均表明对应激源的反应增加（<0.001），与运动组相比，对照组的α -淀粉酶[（58）=-3.45，=0.001，=1.93]和焦虑[（58）=-2.04，=0.046，=0.53]反应更高。在控制这两个参数后，针对斯特鲁普干扰分数变化的重复测量协方差分析显示，应激没有主效应[（1,58）=3.80，=0.056，ηp =0.063]，应激×组间交互作用也不显著[（1,58）=0.43，=0.517，ηp =0.008]。同样，对于DLPFC氧合作用，应激没有主效应[（1,58）=2.38，=0.128，ηp =0.040]，应激×组间交互作用也不显著[（1,58）=2.80，=0.100，ηp =0.047]。
我们的研究证实了急性运动对一些生理和心理应激反应指标可能具有促进健康的作用。然而，我们的数据并不支持急性运动对应激状态下干扰控制和DLPFC激活有影响的观点。
