The Effects of a 5-Year Physical Exercise Intervention with Music in Community- Dwelling Normal Elderly People: The Mihama-Kiho Follow-Up Project

The difference of affect improvement effect of music intervention in aerobic exercise at different time periods

Objectives: A randomized controlled experimental design that combines exercise and music intervention was adopted in this study to verify whether this approach could help improve human affect. The differences in the effect of music listening on affective improvement were compared in four different periods: before, during, and after aerobic power cycling exercise and the whole exercise course. Method: A total of 140 subjects aged 19-30 years (average age: 23.6 years) were recruited and randomly divided into four music intervention groups, namely, the pre-exercise, during-exercise, post-exercise, and the whole-course groups. The subjects' demographic and sociological variables and daily physical activities were collected using questionnaires. Individual factors, such as the subjects' noise sensitivity, personality traits, and degree of learning burnout, were collected via scale scoring. A laboratory in Zhejiang Normal University was selected as the experimental site. The testing procedure can be summarized as follows. In a quiet environment, the subjects were asked to sit quietly for 5 min after completing a preparation work, and then they were informed to take a pre-test. The four subject groups wore headphones and completed 20 min of aerobic cycling (i.e., 7 min of moderate-intensity cycling [50%*HRR + RHR] + 6 min of low-intensity interval cycling [30%*HRR + RHR] + 7 min of moderate-intensity cycling [50%*HRR + RHR] after returning to a calm state (no less than 20 min) for post-testing. The affect improvement indicators (dependent variables) collected in the field included blood pressure (BP), positive/negative affect, and heart rate variability indicators (RMSSD, SDNN, and LF/HF). Results: 1) Significant differences were found in the participants' systolic BP (SBP) indices and the effect of improvement of the positive affect during the exercise-music intervention among the four groups at different durations for the same exercise intensity (F = 2.379, p = 0.030, ɳp 2 = 0.058; F = 2.451, p = 0.043, ɳp 2 = 0.091). 2) Music intervention for individuals during exercise contribute more to the reduction of SBP than the other three time periods (F = 3.170, p = 0.047, ɳp 2 = 0.068). Improvement in the participants' negativity affective score was also better during exercise, and it was significantly different than the other three time periods (F = 5.516, p = 0.006, ɳp 2 = 0.113). No significant differences were found in the improvement effects of the other effective indicators for the four periods. Conclusion: Exercise combined with music intervention has a facilitative effect on human affect improvement, and listening to music during exercise has a better impact on affective improvement than music interventions at the other periods. When people perform physical activities, listening to music during exercise positively affects the progress effect among them.

Online physical exercise program with music improves working memory

Objective

The spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has limited the implementation of face-to-face non-pharmacological treatment for the prevention of dementia. As a result, online non-pharmacological treatment has become increasingly important. In this study, we used an online conferencing system to implement an online version of a physical exercise program with music, and examined its effect on cognitive function.

Methods

The participants were 114 healthy older adults [63 men and 51 women; mean age of 70.7 years (standard deviation = 4.6)]. Seventy-five participants were allocated to the physical exercise with music group (60 min, once a week, total 20 sessions), while the remaining 39 participants were assigned to the control group, and only underwent the examinations. In the physical exercise with music group, we performed neuropsychological examinations and brain tests both before and after the exercise program. Neuropsychological tests included the Mini-Mental State Examination, Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM), the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test, graphic imitation, word fluency (WF) (animal names and initial sounds), and the Trail Making Test-A/B. As an assessment of brain function, we developed an online examination of subtle cognitive decline, including tests of number and word memory, spatial grasp, the N-back task, and change inference.

Results

In the N-back task, the physical exercise with music group improved significantly relative to the control group (p = 0.008).

Discussion

The present findings suggest that the online version of the physical exercise with music program improved working memory, which mainly involves the frontal lobe.

An Online Version of Physical Exercise with Musical Accompaniment Might Facilitate Participation by Subjects Who Cannot Participate in Person: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Introduction

Due to the ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is currently difficult to conduct in-person exercise classes. We thus started the program of an online physical exercise with musical accompaniment. Several interesting differences were found in the characteristics of the online participants compared with our previous in-person interventions.

Participants and Methods

The total number of subjects was 88 (71.2 ± 4.9 years old; male 42, female 46). The questionnaire included the attributes of the participants, the perceived advantages of the exercise classes, and the presence or absence of noticeable changes in cognitive and physical function after participating in the classes.

Results

The personal computers used to attend the online classes were operated by the participants themselves. About 42% of the participants felt that their sense of day of the week and volition were improved by attending the exercise classes for 3 months. The most frequent answer to the reason for participation was because it was free (81.8%). The second most frequent answer was because the classes were held online (75.0%). Almost half of the participants answered that they would not participate if it was held in person because of the risk of COVID-19 infection (75.0%) and the difficulty getting to the site where the exercise classes were held (59.1%).

Conclusion

Online physical exercise with musical accompaniment improved the perceived orientation, volition, activity, exercise habits, and health condition in 30-40% of the participants and also stimulated greater participation by males compared to classes held in person.