My selected journal article is “Differential effects of physical activity and sleep duration on cognitive function in young adults” by Kato et al. 2017. The purpose of the study was to investigate how sleep duration and physical activities affect cognitive functioning by demonstrating the neural mechanisms with the use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The study purpose was based on the fact that physical exercises and habits regarding to sleep durations are known to have an association with cognitive functioning. However, the positive effects of these variables on cognitive functioning are not clear. Therefore, the researchers of the study carried out this research to find out the benefitting effects that might accrue to the functioning of the brain as a result of the two mentioned variables.
The study relates directly with the second bulletin in Ormrod’s article; “good sleeping habits and regular physical exercise enhance brain functioning”. In the bulletin, Ormrod (n.d) highlights some of the importance of sleep and exercise to the brain. According to Ormrod, the significance of sleep includes improving mental alertness, helping people to ward off harmful germs and supporting the efforts of the brain to merge new memories and render them more memorable over a long period. Regarding physical exercises, Ormrod states that they are more beneficial if they include aerobic activities that maintains the good working condition of the cardiovascular system. The more critical benefit is that physical exercises enhance functioning of specific brain structures which help a person to keep one’s mind productively engaged in a task at hand. Similarly, the study aims at clearly finding effects of the two variables on mental functioning.
The participants in the study were 23 young adults aged between 20 to 24 years and in a healthy status. The amount of exercise of the participants was evaluated with the use of a uniaxial accelerometer. The researchers then estimated total sleep time (TST) and the efficiency of the sleep by actigraphy. They tested cognitive function using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), N-back task as well as the Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs (CPT-IP). NIR was then used to measure the levels of the oxygenated hemoglobin during a task that entailed word fluency. The amount of exercise had a significant correlation with reaction time on 1-black tasks while the TST had a significant correlation with percentage corrects on 2-black task.
Through repeated regression analysis such as amount of exercise, sleep efficiency and TST, it was revealed that exercise amount and TST were the most significant factors for reaction time on 1-black tasks and for percentage corrects on 2-black tasks respectively. The parameter under the WCST and CPT-IP lacked significant correlation with exercise amount and TST. From the findings, it was concluded that TST and exercise amount had differential impacts on memory as well as the activation of the cortical hemoglobin around the prefrontal area. Therefore, it was established that regular physical activities and adequate sleep duration can play an essential role on the functioning of the brain.
As a scholar of learning and motivation, this journal article informs me that Ormrod was right in his bulletin that good sleeping habits and regular physical exercises are essential aspects to the human being as they improve the working of the brain.
References
Kato, K., Iwamoto, K., Kawano, N., Noda, Y., Ozaki, N., " Noda, A. (2017). Differential effects of physical activity and sleep duration on cognitive function in young adults. Journal Of Sport And Health Science, 7(2), 227-236. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2017.01.005
Ormrod, J. Human learning.
