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EFFECTS OF ACUTE LOW-INTENSITY WALKING ON ATTENTIVENESS IN THE CLASSROOM

Abstract

There is evidence to support the notion that moderate to high-intensity exercise facilitates blood flow to the brain. Blood flow increases oxygen to the prefrontal cortex, which plays a significant role in cognitive function. Also, the prefrontal cortex is responsible for attentiveness, which is crucial for learning. However, the benefits of low-intensity exercise on acute and lasting attentiveness have yet to be studied in depth. College students often perform low-intensity walking between classes, which may have a potential benefit for in-class learning. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of low-intensity walking on attentiveness for college-aged students. It was hypothesized that a low-intensity treadmill walk would improve: 1) immediate post-exercise attentiveness, 2) lasting attentiveness in class, more than sitting. METHODS: Fifty students (age = 20 ± 2 yrs, nmale = 22, nfemale = 28, nundergrad = 41, ngrad = 9) participated in two conditions: 1) low-intensity walking on a treadmill at 40% heart rate reserve while watching a 22 min show, and 2) sitting and watching another episode of the same show. Following each condition, attentiveness was measured with two Trail Making Tests (TMT). Lasting attentiveness in a lecture-based class was measured with the Attentional Control Scale (ACS). At the end of the lecture, the ACS was emailed to participants for immediate completion. Dependent t-tests (p £ 0.05) were used to determine significant differences between each condition. RESULTS: There were no differences in acute attentiveness as measured with the TMT (sitting: 39.82 ± 11.78, walking: 38.58 ± 15.04; p > 0.05). The ACS demonstrated improvement in lasting attentiveness for class (sitting: 24.14 ± 7.58, walking: 20.82 ± 8.31; p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: As measured under these conditions, low-intensity exercise improved lasting, but not acute, attentiveness. The primary explanation for the observed results was that walking may have increased blood flow, which increased lasting attentiveness. The TMT may have elicited a learning effect, which may have reduced acute attentiveness accuracy. Future research is needed to investigate the immediate effects of post-exercise attentiveness, methods of resting heart rate measurement, and expand self-report measurements.

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