Sympathetic Nervous System and Exercise Affects Cognition in Youth (SNEACY): study protocol for a randomized crossover trial
Open Access
- 18 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Trials
- Vol. 22 (1), 1-10
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05096-w
Abstract
There is an increasing prevalence of physical inactivity during childhood, which is associated with a variety of health problems. However, the mechanisms by which acute exercise benefits cognition in childhood remains unknown. Here we describe the protocol for a randomized crossover trial called SNEACY (Sympathetic Nervous System & Exercise Affects Cognition in Youth), a study designed to better understand mechanisms linking acute exercise and cognition in 9–10-year-old healthy, cognitively normal children. Children from the Greater Boston, MA region will be recruited to participate in this single center study. A randomized crossover design will be utilized, such that participants will act as their own controls, through initial randomization to condition assignment and condition counterbalancing across participants. One hundred three children will participate in three randomized acute interventions: moderate intensity treadmill exercise (20 min, 70–75% of their maximal heart rate), seated rest (20 min), and a Trier Social Stress Test for Children (14 min). These visits will occur on 3 three separate days, approximately 5–8 days apart. Before and after each intervention, children complete a variety of cognitive tasks measuring attentional inhibition while their neuroelectric activity is recorded. Variables of interest include EEG data, accuracy and reaction time, academic achievement, and salivary alpha amylase. Academic achievement is also assessed following interventions. In addition, children provide passive drool samples throughout the interventions to measure various biomarkers that may explain the acute exercise benefit on cognition. The results from this study could influence educational and public health recommendations to enhance cognition and learning in pre-adolescent children. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03592238. Registered on 19 July 2018Funding Information
- National Institutes of Health (HD094054)
This publication has 41 references indexed in Scilit:
- Exercise Improves Behavioral, Neurocognitive, and Scholastic Performance in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity DisorderThe Journal of Pediatrics, 2013
- The effects of physical activity on functional MRI activation associated with cognitive control in children: a randomized controlled interventionFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013
- Responses of salivary cortisol and α-amylase to official competitionJournal of Human Sport and Exercise, 2011
- Correlates of physical activity in youth: a review of quantitative systematic reviewsInternational Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2011
- Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youthInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2010
- THE EFFECT OF ACUTE TREADMILL WALKING ON COGNITIVE CONTROL AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PREADOLESCENT CHILDRENNeuroscience, 2009
- Effects of exercise intensity on salivary antimicrobial proteins and markers of stress in active menJournal of Sports Sciences, 2008
- Physical Activity in the United States Measured by AccelerometerMedicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2008
- The effect of single and repeated bouts of prolonged cycling and circadian variation on saliva flow rate, immunoglobulin A and α-amylase responsesJournal of Sports Sciences, 2004
- Performance of a new pubertal self‐assessment questionnaire: a preliminary studyPaediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 2001