Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study

Background: Previous studies suggest short-term cognitive benefits of physical activity occurring minutes to hours after exercise. Whether these benefits persist the following day and the role of sleep is unclear. We examined associations of accelerometer-assessed physical activity, sedentary behavi...

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Main Authors: Bloomberg, M, Brocklebank, L, Doherty, A, Hamer, M, Steptoe, A
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: BioMed Central 2024
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author Bloomberg, M
Brocklebank, L
Doherty, A
Hamer, M
Steptoe, A
author_facet Bloomberg, M
Brocklebank, L
Doherty, A
Hamer, M
Steptoe, A
author_sort Bloomberg, M
collection OXFORD
description Background: Previous studies suggest short-term cognitive benefits of physical activity occurring minutes to hours after exercise. Whether these benefits persist the following day and the role of sleep is unclear. We examined associations of accelerometer-assessed physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults. Methods: British adults aged 50-83 years (N = 76) without evidence of cognitive impairment or dementia wore accelerometers for eight days, and took daily cognitive tests of attention, memory, psychomotor speed, executive function, and processing speed. Physical behaviour (time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA], light physical activity [LPA], and sedentary behaviour [SB]) and sleep characteristics (overnight sleep duration, time spent in rapid eye movement [REM] sleep and slow wave sleep [SWS]) were extracted from accelerometers, with sleep stages derived using a novel polysomnography-validated machine learning algorithm. We used linear mixed models to examine associations of physical activity and sleep with next-day cognitive performance, after accounting for habitual physical activity and sleep patterns during the study period and other temporal and contextual factors. Results: An additional 30 min of MVPA on the previous day was associated with episodic memory scores 0.15 standard deviations (SD; 95% confidence interval = 0.01 to 0.29; p = 0.03) higher and working memory scores 0.16 SD (0.03 to 0.28; p = 0.01) higher. Each 30-min increase in SB was associated with working memory scores 0.05 SD (0.00 to 0.09) lower (p = 0.03); adjustment for sleep characteristics on the previous night did not substantively change these results. Independent of MVPA on the previous day, sleep duration ≥ 6 h (compared with < 6 h) on the previous night was associated with episodic memory scores 0.60 SD (0.16 to 1.03) higher (p = 0.008) and psychomotor speed 0.34 SD (0.04 to 0.65) faster (p = 0.03). Each 30-min increase in REM sleep on the previous night was associated with 0.13 SD (0.00 to 0.25) higher attention scores (p = 0.04); a 30-min increase in SWS was associated with 0.17 SD (0.05 to 0.29) higher episodic memory scores (p = 0.008). Conclusions: Memory benefits of MVPA may persist for 24 h; longer sleep duration, particularly more time spent in SWS, could independently contribute to these benefits.
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spelling oxford-uuid:f92d1645-2ec3-4a65-8658-5b6319d0247a2024-12-18T20:03:36ZAssociations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal studyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f92d1645-2ec3-4a65-8658-5b6319d0247aEnglishJisc Publications RouterBioMed Central2024Bloomberg, MBrocklebank, LDoherty, AHamer, MSteptoe, ABackground: Previous studies suggest short-term cognitive benefits of physical activity occurring minutes to hours after exercise. Whether these benefits persist the following day and the role of sleep is unclear. We examined associations of accelerometer-assessed physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults. Methods: British adults aged 50-83 years (N = 76) without evidence of cognitive impairment or dementia wore accelerometers for eight days, and took daily cognitive tests of attention, memory, psychomotor speed, executive function, and processing speed. Physical behaviour (time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA], light physical activity [LPA], and sedentary behaviour [SB]) and sleep characteristics (overnight sleep duration, time spent in rapid eye movement [REM] sleep and slow wave sleep [SWS]) were extracted from accelerometers, with sleep stages derived using a novel polysomnography-validated machine learning algorithm. We used linear mixed models to examine associations of physical activity and sleep with next-day cognitive performance, after accounting for habitual physical activity and sleep patterns during the study period and other temporal and contextual factors. Results: An additional 30 min of MVPA on the previous day was associated with episodic memory scores 0.15 standard deviations (SD; 95% confidence interval = 0.01 to 0.29; p = 0.03) higher and working memory scores 0.16 SD (0.03 to 0.28; p = 0.01) higher. Each 30-min increase in SB was associated with working memory scores 0.05 SD (0.00 to 0.09) lower (p = 0.03); adjustment for sleep characteristics on the previous night did not substantively change these results. Independent of MVPA on the previous day, sleep duration ≥ 6 h (compared with < 6 h) on the previous night was associated with episodic memory scores 0.60 SD (0.16 to 1.03) higher (p = 0.008) and psychomotor speed 0.34 SD (0.04 to 0.65) faster (p = 0.03). Each 30-min increase in REM sleep on the previous night was associated with 0.13 SD (0.00 to 0.25) higher attention scores (p = 0.04); a 30-min increase in SWS was associated with 0.17 SD (0.05 to 0.29) higher episodic memory scores (p = 0.008). Conclusions: Memory benefits of MVPA may persist for 24 h; longer sleep duration, particularly more time spent in SWS, could independently contribute to these benefits.
spellingShingle Bloomberg, M
Brocklebank, L
Doherty, A
Hamer, M
Steptoe, A
Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title_full Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title_fullStr Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title_full_unstemmed Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title_short Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study
title_sort associations of accelerometer measured physical activity sedentary behaviour and sleep with next day cognitive performance in older adults a micro longitudinal study
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