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Health June 2012

Aid for Age

Ever Hear of ‘Exergames?’

By Tait Trussell

    The researchers found that cybercycling or exergames two to three times a week for three months “yielded greater cognitive benefit” than regular exercise for the same amount of time.

    This is physical exercise combined with interactive video game features. According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, exergames can provide a greater cognitive benefit to older peoples than traditional exercise alone.

    Research has shown that exercise — even just plain walking — may delay or prevent dementia and improve your ability to think as you pile on more years. But only 14 percent of seniors between 65 and 74 years of age and only 7 percent of those 75 and older report that they exercise regularly.

    “We found that for older adults,” explained Cay Anderson-Hanley, PhD, “virtual reality enhanced interactive exercise with computer-simulated environments (exergames)...can yield a greater cognitive benefit and perhaps added protection against mild cognitive impairment than a similar traditional exercise.” Anderson-Hanley is with the Healthy Aging and Neuropsychology Lab and the Psychology Department at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.

    So, what the heck is exergames? It’s also called “cybercycling.” In cybercycling, you watch a screen with interactive video game features while riding a stationary bike. For instance, you may race against a “ghost” rider. Navigating a three-dimensional landscape, anticipating turns and competing with others require focus and decision-making.

    “These activities depend in part on executive function,” notes Dr. Anderson-Hanley. I guess that means you have to make some decisions, not just keep your legs pumping as you ride the stationary bike.

    The researchers found that cybercycling or exergames two to three times a week for three months “yielded greater cognitive benefit” than regular exercise for the same amount of time.

    The cybercycle study enrolled 101 volunteers ranging in age from 58 to 99 years of age from independent living facilities with indoor access to an exercise bike. Some 79 enrollees completed evaluations and training and rode the stationary bikes. But these bikes were equipped with a display on a screen, and they raced against an avatar, or “ghost,” competitor.

    They averaged three rides a week, for about a half hour each time. A cognitive assessment was made to evaluate functions such as planning, working memory, attention, and problem solving at the time of enrollment of the seniors. Then a similar assessment one month later. Finally, three months later. Blood plasma also was tested. This was to find out if there was any change in brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF). That is a protein which helps to support the survival of existing neurons, and encourages growth of new neurons and synapses. In the brain, it is active in the areas vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking.

    The researchers said BDNF indicated a mechanism of change that could link exercise to cognition. Pretty technical stuff, but the cybercycle riders had better “executive function” (making decisions) than those who rode a typical stationary bike with no interactive screen. In fact, they said, cybercyclists experiened a 23 percent reduction in progression to mild cognitive impairment compared with those who just peddled away without a juiced-up screen.

    I won’t question how they arrived at such a precise figure as 23 percent. Instead, I’ll tell you how I devised my own exergame. I have a simple, standard stationary bike in our basement room.

    What I do in the hope of retaining my cognitive ability is to watch a nearby TV screen while I’m pedaling away. I have no avatar or cybercycling turns to make.

    What I do is to try to figure out what the TV commercials are trying to sell me and why. This is not child’s play. I find some commercials so busy trying to be clever or funny, their intended sales purpose is lost or confused in the gimmickry. This is one of the ways that my cognitive capacity is challenged. What was that product and what did it promise? Why would I ever want it?

    Another way to exercise thought is trying to figure why almost every product televised for sale is $14.95, and why if you order this product they will “not only send one but two” for the same price. Why would I want two of the same product? This suggests that having only one won’t last very long. Because commercials seem to take up most of the TV time, there is plenty to question and about which to exercise one’s judgment.

    Finally, when the news is squeezed between commercials, my cognitive capacity is really challenged. I don’t need my blood plasma tested, as did the enrollees in the exergames study. My blood pressure is what’s at stake.

    I do enough current events research to know the facts about most subjects being discussed in the news segment. When I hear some political pitch that I know is untrue, my blood pressure rises. I hope there is some positive cognitive effect in yelling at the TV that what the pol said is a big, fat lie.

     

    Tait Trussell is an old guy and fourth-generation professional journalist who writes extensively about aging issues among a myriad of diverse topics.

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