Department of Biomedical Engineering, Toyo University, 2100 Kujirai, Kawagoe-shi, Saitama, 350-8585, Japan.
Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
J Physiol Sci. 2021 Apr 6;71(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s12576-021-00796-z.
The handgrip exercise, a small muscle exercise, is useful for exercise therapy, particularly in the elderly and bedridden patients. The isometric handgrip (IHG) exercise has been utilized in training programs to reduce resting blood pressure; however, the acute effects of the IHG exercise on cognitive performance are not fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of an intermittent IHG exercise protocol with short exercise duration, which minimizes the arterial blood pressure response to exercise, on cognitive performance. Twenty-two young healthy subjects performed the intermittent IHG exercise protocol, which consisted of 30-s IHG and 45-s recovery × 16 trials; the exercise intensity of the IHG exercise was 30% of the maximal voluntary contraction. Cognitive performance was evaluated before and after the exercise with the Go/No-Go and memory recognition tasks. Specifically, the reaction time (RT) and performance accuracy were measured. The intermittent IHG exercise protocol did not change the RT or performance accuracy of either the Go/No-Go task (P = 0.222 and P = 0.260, respectively) or the memory recognition task (P = 0.427 and P = 0.245, respectively). These findings suggest that the intermittent IHG exercise protocol with short exercise duration may not provide enough stimulation to improve cognitive performance despite being useful as a safe exercise therapy in the elderly and in patients with cardiovascular disease.
握力练习是一种小肌肉练习，对于运动疗法很有用，尤其是在老年人和卧床不起的患者中。等长握力（IHG）练习已被用于训练计划中，以降低静息血压；然而，IHG 练习对认知表现的急性影响尚不完全清楚。本研究旨在探讨一种间歇性 IHG 运动方案的效果，该方案运动持续时间短，可最大程度地降低运动对动脉血压的反应，从而对认知表现产生影响。22 名年轻健康的受试者进行了间歇性 IHG 运动方案，该方案包括 30 秒的 IHG 和 45 秒的恢复期，共 16 次；IHG 运动的运动强度为最大自主收缩的 30%。在运动前和运动后使用 Go/No-Go 和记忆识别任务评估认知表现。具体而言，测量了反应时间（RT）和表现准确性。间歇性 IHG 运动方案并未改变 Go/No-Go 任务的 RT 或表现准确性（P=0.222 和 P=0.260），也未改变记忆识别任务的 RT 或表现准确性（P=0.427 和 P=0.245）。这些发现表明，尽管作为一种对老年人和心血管疾病患者安全的运动疗法很有用，但持续时间短的间歇性 IHG 运动方案可能无法提供足够的刺激来改善认知表现。
