The effect of aerobic interval training on memory improvement with respect to changes in homocysteine in diabetic patients

Diabetes has become one of the common diseases of the society by lifestyle changes and sedentary life. Memory disorders are secondary complications of diabetes. Hyperhomocysteinemia is physiological changes caused by diabetes that can cause memory impairment. Physical activity could affect homocysteine level. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of aerobic interval training to improve levels of homocysteine and memory and how much memory disorders are associated with changes in homocysteine levels.
Subjects were 20 patients with type II diabetes treated with metformin. The protocol used in this study consisted of 24 sessions of aerobic training with intensity of 40 to 55 percent of maximum heart rate reserve (HR reserve) that was conducted periodically. In order to evaluate significant differences between pre-test and post-test, t test was used and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to communicate between factors.
Findings showed improvement of memory and homocysteine, from 28.12 ± 6.354 score to 31.18±5.6 score and from 20.02 ± 2.32 μmol/l to 17.82 ± 2.6 μmol/l, respectively. These changes were statistically significant. The relationship between homocysteine levels and memory changes was r = 0.051.
Aerobic interval training could improve memory and reduce homocysteine levels in type II diabetic, but the relationship between memory and homocysteine was not statistically significant.