PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON COGNITIVE FUNCTION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Physical activity contributes to healthy aging, decreasing the risk of development of chronic degenerative diseases. There is a positive association between exercise and cognitive function.  The objective of this study is to identify the benefits of physical activity on cognitive functions in aging. In this systematic review, a literature search was performed in Scielo, Lilacs, PubMed, Medline and Bireme databases. After the inclusion of limits, 620 manuscripts were reduced to 75, and only 07 met the inclusion criteria. They were published between 2003 and 2008. In each manuscript, the following aspects were taken into consideration: publication date, sample size/gender/age, exercise modality and intensity, time and length of sessions, assessment methods, aspects of cognitive function, highlighting the main results. Most of the results showed that the improvement in cardiovascular fitness increases the cognitive performance, especially in attentional measures, short-term memory, reasoning and reaction time. In addition, long-term moderate physical activity levels (independent on the modality) help to maintain fluid intelligence with aging. Thus, further investigation is necessary to address the mode-intensity relationship of exercise, by associating with cognitive functioning, and in each phase of information processing: perception, learning, memory, attention, reasoning and problem solving.