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- Creators: Benson, Alicia Meigh
- Creators: LaBelle, Jeffrey
Description
This study examines the effect of exercise therapy on a stationary bike on cognitive function, specifically inhibition and set-switching, in adolescents with Down syndrome. 44 participants were randomly divided between the voluntary cycling therapy group (VCT) (i.e., self-selected cadence), assisted cycling therapy group (ACT) (i.e., 30% faster than self-selected cadence accomplished by a motor), and a control group (NC) in which the participants did not undergo any exercise therapy. Both cycling groups rode a stationary bicycle, for 30 minutes, three times a week, for eight-weeks. At the beginning (i.e., pretest) and end (i.e., posttest) of the eight-week session the participants completed tasks to evaluate their cognitive function. They completed three trials of the card sort test (i.e., set-switching) and three trials of the knock-tap test (i.e, inhibition) before and after eight-weeks of cycling therapy. The scores of these tests were analyzed using one-way ANOVA between groups and paired samples t-tests. The results showed that after eight-weeks of cycling therapy the participants in the VCT group performed worse in the knock-tap test, but improved in two trials of the card sort test. The results also showed that the participants in the ACT group performed worse after eight-weeks of exercise therapy in one trial of the card sort test. No significant changes were seen for the control group. Due to the fact that on average the participants in the VCT group cycled with a higher heart rate, our results suggest exercise that significantly elevates heart rate can improve cognitive function, specifically set-switching, in adolescents with Down syndrome.
ContributorsBenson, Alicia Meigh (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Amazeen, Eric (Committee member) / Maraj, Brian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Chronic stress has been linked as a probable contributor to a number of health problems that plague the world today. Obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, and osteoporosis are all common health risks believed to be exacerbated by stress. While it is nether realistic nor desirable to completely eliminate stress in an individual, proper stress management is important to a healthy lifestyle. Homeostasis is the primary mechanism by which stress, and the stress response, should be analyzed. Environmental factors known as stressors elicit responses from the body, which can be measured in terms of duration and magnitude. These two factors determine the homeostatic response from the body. This thesis proposes the study of heart rate variability (HRV) to measure the response of the autonomic nervous system through time domain analysis (the length of interbeat intervals) and frequency domain analysis (the differences between the lengths of consecutive interbeat intervals). Even with many possible problems, this data still represents valuable proof of concept that HRV analysis may be of use in identifying stress.
ContributorsUchimura, Kevin (Author) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Pizziconi, Vincent (Committee member) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05