INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 08 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 01:45 pm - 03:00 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 08: Cognition \| Cognitive Reserve Variables Final Abstract #31 Exploring the Impact of Aerobic Exercise Intensity on Brain Health and Psychological Resilience Pranav Saravanan, Social, Cognitive, Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States Lindsey Hildebrand, Social, Cognitive, Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States William Killgore, Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States Category: Cognitive Neuroscience Keyword 1: neuropsychiatry Keyword 2: cognitive functioning Keyword 3: mood disorders Objective: The growing interest in the field of cognitive function and brain health has led to a focus on psychological hardiness, a personality trait that enables individuals to effectively cope with stress and adversity. Prior research has shown that aerobic exercise is strongly positively correlated with psychological resilience (Lancaster and Callaghan 2022). The release of endorphins during exercise is believed to play a key role in influencing stress responses and cognitive well-being (Harber and Sutton 1984). However, the effects of different intensities of aerobic exercise on psychological hardiness and an optimal exercise intensity there are not fully understood. We hypothesized that high-intensity aerobic exercise will have a significantly stronger, positive correlation with psychological resilience compared to light aerobic exercise, potentially due to increased endorphin release during the workouts. Participants and Methods: A total of 3,072 English-speaking adults from across the U.S. (Mage=37.19, SD=12.37) completed a series of online surveys during different months of the COVID-19 pandemic through the Amazon MTurk platform. The surveys contained the Dispositional Resiliency Scale-15 (DRS15), which measures psychological hardiness through 15 items with responses ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), and 50 resilience behavior items that measured a person’s tendency to engage in behavior on a scale of 0 (not true at all) to 5 (true all the time). Two of the items referred to exercise and how often one spends time engaging in light aerobic workouts and vigorous aerobic workouts. We conducted bivariate correlations between DRS-15 and the level of aerobic exercise and compared the strength of these associations through Fisher Z transformation to examine if there was a significant difference between them. Results: Light aerobic workouts such as walking and stretching were positively correlated with psychological hardiness (r(3072) = 0.314, p<0.001, r2=0.098). Vigorous endurance exercises were also positively correlated with psychological hardiness (r(3072) = 0.232, p<0.001, r2=0.054). A comparison of correlations from dependent samples found that the strength of association was significantly greater between light aerobic workouts and psychological hardiness than vigorous endurance exercises and psychological hardiness (z=5.301, p<0.001). Conclusions: In contrast to our initial hypothesis, we found that light aerobic workouts were more strongly positively correlated with psychological hardiness than vigorous aerobic workouts. These findings offer evidence that besides endorphins release, there are other factors within exercise that are closely linked with cognitive function, specifically psychological hardiness. Further work will be necessary to identify an optimal duration within this exercise intensity. Although these results cannot determine the causal direction of the association, a greater understanding will be vital to developing targeted exercise interventions aimed at enhancing psychological well-being, cognitive resilience, coping skills, and overall brain health, particularly for individuals facing neuropsychological challenges.

Poster

02/16/2024
01:45 pm - 03:00 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 08: Cognition | Cognitive Reserve Variables

Final Abstract #31

Exploring the Impact of Aerobic Exercise Intensity on Brain Health and Psychological Resilience

Pranav Saravanan, Social, Cognitive, Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States
Lindsey Hildebrand, Social, Cognitive, Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States
William Killgore, Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, Tucson, United States

Category: Cognitive Neuroscience

Keyword 1: neuropsychiatry
Keyword 2: cognitive functioning
Keyword 3: mood disorders

Objective:

The growing interest in the field of cognitive function and brain health has led to a focus on psychological hardiness, a personality trait that enables individuals to effectively cope with stress and adversity. Prior research has shown that aerobic exercise is strongly positively correlated with psychological resilience (Lancaster and Callaghan 2022). The release of endorphins during exercise is believed to play a key role in influencing stress responses and cognitive well-being (Harber and Sutton 1984). However, the effects of different intensities of aerobic exercise on psychological hardiness and an optimal exercise intensity there are not fully understood. We hypothesized that high-intensity aerobic exercise will have a significantly stronger, positive correlation with psychological resilience compared to light aerobic exercise, potentially due to increased endorphin release during the workouts.

Participants and Methods:

A total of 3,072 English-speaking adults from across the U.S. (Mage=37.19, SD=12.37) completed a series of online surveys during different months of the COVID-19 pandemic through the Amazon MTurk platform. The surveys contained the Dispositional Resiliency Scale-15 (DRS15), which measures psychological hardiness through 15 items with responses ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), and 50 resilience behavior items that measured a person’s tendency to engage in behavior on a scale of 0 (not true at all) to 5 (true all the time). Two of the items referred to exercise and how often one spends time engaging in light aerobic workouts and vigorous aerobic workouts. We conducted bivariate correlations between DRS-15 and the level of aerobic exercise and compared the strength of these associations through Fisher Z transformation to examine if there was a significant difference between them.

Results:

Light aerobic workouts such as walking and stretching were positively correlated with psychological hardiness (r(3072) = 0.314, p<0.001, r2=0.098). Vigorous endurance exercises were also positively correlated with psychological hardiness (r(3072) = 0.232, p<0.001, r2=0.054). A comparison of correlations from dependent samples found that the strength of association was significantly greater between light aerobic workouts and psychological hardiness than vigorous endurance exercises and psychological hardiness (z=5.301, p<0.001).

Conclusions:

In contrast to our initial hypothesis, we found that light aerobic workouts were more strongly positively correlated with psychological hardiness than vigorous aerobic workouts. These findings offer evidence that besides endorphins release, there are other factors within exercise that are closely linked with cognitive function, specifically psychological hardiness. Further work will be necessary to identify an optimal duration within this exercise intensity. Although these results cannot determine the causal direction of the association, a greater understanding will be vital to developing targeted exercise interventions aimed at enhancing psychological well-being, cognitive resilience, coping skills, and overall brain health, particularly for individuals facing neuropsychological challenges.