The Effect of Cognitive and Aerobic Training on Cognitive and Motor Function, and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factors in Elderly Men

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as one of the factors associated with neuromuscular performance and cognitive function is reduced with increasing age. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic and cognitive training on the dynamic balance, attention and serum BDNF levels in elderly men. In a quasi-experimental study, 60 healthy elderly men were selected through the purposeful sampling and were randomly divided into 4 groups including aerobic training, cognitive training, combinational training (cognitive aerobics) (cognitive training), and control. Training was performed during eight weeks at three sessions per week. T-test and one way ANOVA were used to analyze the data (P≤0.05). at the end of the period, a significant increase was observed in BDNF serum in the intervention group compared to the control group (P ≥0.001). Also, there was a significant increase in the ratio of the correct response on the target and non-target stimuli. In addition, a significant decrease was observed in commission errors and omission errors, and reaction time in intervention groups compared to control groups (P<0.05). It can be added that the significant improvement was observed in dynamic balance in aerobic and combination groups compared to the control (P<0.001) and cognitive training (P<0.05). Cognitive and aerobic training lead to improving the attention and balance performance in the elderly with increasing BDNF, and it is better to use a combination of physical and cognitive training for the elderly.