According to a study published in Psychiatry Research, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise can enhance cognition in individuals with ADHD, while in healthy individuals these exercises can increase short-term intracortical inhibition.
The neurodevelopmental condition of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) results in persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that impair daily functioning. People with ADHD often experience difficulty with concentration, following instructions, or organization. Hyperactivity may manifest as excessive movement or impatience, while impulsivity may lead to interruptions in conversation or hasty decision-making.
ADHD is typically diagnosed in childhood (usually in early school); Many children struggle to follow school rules (see ADHD symptomatique(affective(i)), causing symptoms to persist into adulthood and often to be accompanied by mental retardation (often grouped with secondary or subclinical symptoms); ADHD is the most common type of neurodevelopmental disorder (usually in children).
The aim of the study conducted by Hsiao-I Kuo and his team was to investigate the physiological effects of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in individuals with ADHD, including inhibitory control and motor learning. They hypothesized that these exercises would increase short-term intracortical inhibition in individuals with ADHD and decrease it in healthy individuals. They also hypothesized that aerobic exercise would increase intracortical facilitation in healthy participants.
The temporary inhibition of cortical excitability within the motor cortex region of the brain by excitatory interneurons increases the reactivity of neurons to incoming stimuli (see intracortical facilitation). Short-term intracortical inhibition, a process that temporarily inhibits motor output by regulating and fine-tuning motor output, is a process that temporarily inhibits motor cortex Aerobic exercise involves physical activities that increase heart rate and breathing over a sustained period of time, such as walking, running, cycling, swimming or dancing.
The study involved 26 adults with ADHD and 26 healthy individuals. Each group included 16 men and 10 women, with an average age of 23-24 years. The outpatient clinic of the Department of Psychiatry at National Taiwan University Hospital recruited participants with ADHD, while healthy participants were enrolled through online announcements.
There were two study conditions, experimental condition and control condition. The experimental condition involved doing aerobic exercise on a stationary exercise bike for half an hour, followed by a 5-minute warm-up, 20 minutes of exercise at the target heart rate and a 5-minute cool-down. The control condition required participants to sit on the bike for 30 minutes and watch nature videos.
The researchers repeated the intervention twice in each session. One set of cognitive tasks assessed the state of inhibitory control (using the stop signal task) and motor learning (using the serial reaction time task). The second set of tasks assessed intracortical facilitation and short intracortical inhibition of the motor cortex (pictured), which was then measured by researchers using transcranial magnetic stimulation generated by motor-evoked potentials in specific muscles, the results of the activation were analyzed by electromyography.
The research found that individuals with ADHD displayed more short intracortical inhibition after aerobic exercise, while people without ADHD had less short intracortical inhibition.
The authors found that aerobic exercise had partially antagonistic effects on both ADHD patients and healthy controls. Additionally, the effects on ADHD cognition were dependent on specific changes in brain physiology that occurred in healthy volunteers.
The research builds on previous studies to gain more scientific insight into the neural effects of aerobic exercise on adults with ADHD. Despite the limited sample size, the study conducted among young adults may yield different results with larger samples and other demographic groups.
Hsiao-I Kuo, Michael A. Nitsche, Yen-Tzu Wu, Jung-Chi Chang, and Li-Kuang Yang wrote a paper on how acute aerobic exercise may affect cognition and cortical excitability in adults with ADHD and healthy controls.