International Journal of Sport Studies for Health
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Apr 2021

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of micronutrient intake on cognitive function and physical activity of the elderly.

The subjects included all elderly people over 60 years of age in Robat Karim city in 2018. 90 elderly males participated voluntarily in the research after signing the informed consent form. The short form of Beck questionnaire of physical activity and MMSE test were respectively used to measure the levels of physical activity and cognitive status of participants. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the data.

The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between each of the micronutrients and cognitive performance of the elderly (P ≤ 0.05). Additionally, there was a significant relationship between each of the micronutrients with the level of physical activity of the elderly (P ≤ 0.05).

Conclusively, micronutrients intake could be of much importance for cognitive function and physical activity of the elderly.

Social development is a fundamental aspect of motor development in children. It has been shown that children with learning disorders have different gross motor skills and physical activity compared to typically developing peers.

Since developmental domains interact with each other and children with learning disabilities often have difficulties that go far beyond those in school homework, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between physical activity and gross motor skills with social development for children with learning disabilities.

In children with learning disorder (n = 82; 49 boys, 33 girls), gross motor skills and physical activity were assessed respectively with the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and Past Year Physical Activity Questionnaire. Vineland Social Maturity Scale was used to evaluate the social development of participants. The Pearson correlation coefficient is used to association between variables. The significance for test was set at P < 0.05.

Locomotor and object-control were significantly associated with social development (r = 0.60, P < 0.001) and (r = 0.44, P = 0.003), respectively. Organized activities were significantly associated with social development (r = 0.69, P = 0.001). Also, gross motor skills and organized activities were able to predict the social development of children with learning disorder (R2 = 0.29, F = 15.78).

Children with higher levels of organized activities and motor skills had higher social development. As a result, gross motor skills and organized physical activity are especially important for children with learning disabilities.

Although, the association between mental health and obesity has been reported in different studies, the relationship between dietary carbohydrate intake and mental health is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of a diet (low in carbohydrate and high protein) along with aerobic exercise on mental health in obese individuals.

In this quasi-experimental study, 30 obese women (20 - 35 years; 80 - 100 kg, 160 ± 5.1 cm and body mass index (above 30) who lived in Qazvin, Iran were selected voluntarily. Dietary intakes during the past one- month was assessed using a quantitative questionnaire on food frequency. Additionally, Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to monitor the rate of depression. Subjects were then randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received a balanced diet that was low in carbohydrates and high in protein based on the calculation of their metabolism, while at the same time engaging in aerobic exercise (walking) for 8 weeks with 75% of the maximum heart rate. Control group did not receive any intervention during the study period. The aerobic program was performed for eight weeks (4 sessions per week and 50 minutes per session).

The results showed that the rate of depression was significantly improved in experimental group (P = 0.001), however, no significant change was found for control group (P = 0.17)

The present study showed that a low carb and high protein diet is positively associated with mental health improvement (anxiety, stress and depression).

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopment disorder with inappropriate levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity that emerge during preschool-age causing several impairement that should be supported.

The purpose of this research was to explore the repercussion of plyometric training protocol (PT) on disruptive behavior and executive control among children with ADHD.

Executive functions and ADHD related behaviors are assessed by graded tests before and after a 12-week PT (plyometric training) or NPT (did not perform PT training).

Findings show that participation in PT enhances behavior reports by parents and teachers (P < 0.001) and level of executive function (P < 0.001).

These findings suggest that PT may improve positively ADHD symptomatology.

This study aimed to examine the effects of verbal encouragements (VE) on linear sprint speed, jump height, change of direction (CoD) speed, and subjective perception of effort among high school students. Twenty-three high school male students volunteered to participate in this study (age = 19.70 ± 1.06 years). Participants were evaluated during two separate sessions (first session with VE and second session without VE) in a randomized order. The teacher provided VE during each physical test. Jump height [squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), five jump test (FJT)], linear sprint speed (10-m and 30-m sprint), and CoD speed (30-m with CoD) were performed during the two sessions. The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was recorded after each session. Results indicated that VE induced moderate but sig-nificant improvement in 10-m (ES = 0.71, P = 0.023) and 30-m (ES = 0.76, P = 0.016) sprint speed. However, the 30-m sprint with CoD did not change across conditions (P > 0.05). For jump tests, significant moderate-to-large increases were observed under the VE compared with the non-VE condition (ES = 0.65 to 0.90; P = 0.005 to 0.037). Findings showed a large increase in effort perception following VE compared to the non-VE condition (ES = 1.54, P < 0.001). In conclusion, the findings of this study indicated that VE has a positive impact on measures of physical fitness but increases effort perception.

The process of decline in endurance capacity is particularly insidious over age 60 and varies considerably with sex, task specificity, and individual training status. Around 50 years of age, aging also implies deterioration of neuromuscular function, affecting muscle strength and power. The aim of the present article was to perform a mini-review to verify how ultra-endurance exercises impact the aging process.

For this, we reviewed the PubMed database (on 20/01/2022) by crossing the key terms, in the simple form, “ultra AND endurance AND exercise AND aging”. This research provided 25 articles from which we made a selection.

We observed that the number of articles on the topic is low. The main findings showed that ultra-endurance exercise, high volume physical exercise (six-hours or more) with peak intensity moments, in long-term, is associated with increased risk of heart disease, sudden death, shortening of telomeres, accelerating aging cell, and harm to the healthy aging process and longevity.

There is still little literature about the impacts of ultra-endurance practice on the aging process. Although there are indications that this may happen, such as shortening of telomeres and cellular aging, it is still not possible to establish a cause-effect relationship. Furthermore, it is not just about physical exercise, it is necessary to take into account individual factors (intrinsic and extrinsic) that interact with the sports trajectory, life habits, biology, and genetics.

Melatonin is a pineal gland hormone. Melatonin is often used to treat insomnia and enhance sleep quality in a range of situations, including jet lag. However, the benefit and safety profile of daytime melatonin dosing prior to exercise are unknown and warrant additional exploration.

We aimed to give (i) a brief overview of the beneficial effects of exogenous melatonin administration on sports performance and (ii) some recommendations for acute use of melatonin with a special focus on humans’ physical activity and athletic performance.

To ascertain the effect of exogenous melatonin administration on humans, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Numerous studies in animals have demonstrated the positive impact of melatonin treatment during physical exercise. However, uncertainty remains regarding melatonin's effect on human exercise physiology. Therefore, the present review focuses almost entirely on data obtained from humans.

The gathered data indicate that consuming melatonin at night improves sleep quality. In terms of physical activity and sports performance, past research has demonstrated that melatonin administration has a good effect on decreasing oxidative stress and inflammation induced by exercise and providing additional protection for skeletal muscle against exercise-induced oxidative damage in humans. However, when taken at bedtime, melatonin may have an unfavourable influence on performance during acute and strenuous exercise.

Exogenous melatonin administration prior to exercise shows significant chronobiotic, antioxidant, antiadrenergic, and hypothermic effects and may represent a fascinating potential weight loss method. However, consuming a high amount of melatonin (6 mg) 50 minutes prior to commencing exercise is not recommended because it may interfere with the physiological reactions to physical activity. Melatonin-related adverse effects were mainly transient and were associated with daytime doses. Melatonin should therefore be provided at night whenever possible.

Caffeine is frequently consumed by athletes to maintain alertness in conditions of sleep loss. However, the effect of caffeine ingestion during total sleep deprivation during aerobic exercise remains questionable.

The present study aimed to assess the effects of repeated intake of low-dose caffeine during a night of total sleep deprivation on endurance performance and psychological states.

Twelve recreational runners performed four test sessions in a double-blind randomized order after a placebo or 6 mg/kg of caffeine ingestion after a baseline night (BN) or three doses of 2 mg/kg of caffeine during a night of total sleep deprivation (TSD). At each session, they completed an exhaustive run around a 400 m athletics track and performed the Feeling Scale test. ANOVA with repeated measures followed by paired t-tests was used to analyze the data.

In comparison with BN, the TSD condition significantly impaired running performance (P < 0.001). On the contrary, caffeine administration improved endurance running performance (P < 0.001) and increased feeling of well-being (P < 0.05) after TSD night as compared to placebo.

Repeated ingestion of low-dose caffeine is an effective way to mitigate the negative effects of total sleep deprivation on endurance performance and mood states.