A Non-Randomized Combined Program of Walking and Low-Load Resistance Exercise Improves Cognitive Function and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Community-Dwelling Elderly Women.

Background: This study examines whether changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, functional fitness, and depressive symptoms following a six-month exercise intervention were associated with cognitive function in Korean women aged 65 years and older. Methods: A non-randomized study design was used to compare post-intervention changes in measured variables between control (n = 30) and exercise (n = 30) groups. The exercise intervention consisted of three days of low-load resistance exercise and two days of walking. Cognitive function and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Korean version of the Mini−Mental State Examination and the Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Functional fitness was measured using a senior fitness test battery. Results: The exercise group showed a significant improvement in cognitive function (p < 0.001) in conjunction with significant decreases in blood glucose (p = 0.052), triglycerides (p = 0.011), insulin (p = 0.002), tumor necrosis factor-α (p = 0.043), and depressive symptoms (p = 0.006) and an increase in interleukin-10 (p = 0.037), compared with the control group. Multivariate stepwise regression showed that changes in depressive symptoms (p < 0.001), insulin resistance (p < 0.001), and upper body muscle strength (p = 0.003) were positively associated with cognitive function. Conclusion: A six-month exercise intervention consisting of walking and low-load/high-repetition elastic band resistance exercise has the potential to improve cognitive function, as well as physical function and cardiometabolic risk factors, and to decrease depressive symptoms in older women.

The Relationship of Lifestyle Risk Factors and Depression in Korean Adults: A Moderating Effect of Overall Nutritional Adequacy.

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the role of nutrition in determining the associations between lifestyle risk factors and depression. OBJECTIVES: This study examined whether or not nutritional adequacy modulates the relationship between depression and lifestyle risk factors in Korean adults aged 18-65 years (n = 7446). METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2016 and 2018 Korea National Health and Examination Survey. Depression, smoking, at-risk alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation, and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) were assessed. RESULTS: Individuals with two (OR = 1.960, p < 0.001), three (OR = 4.237, p < 0.001), or four (OR = 5.312, p < 0.001) risk factors had a significantly higher risk of depression compared to individuals with one or zero risk factor. In contrast, individuals with moderate MAR (OR = 0.607, p < 0.001) and high (OR = 0.698, p < 0.001) MAR had a lower depression risk compared to individuals with low MAR. Moderation analysis showed a moderating effect of MAR (coefficient = -0.220, p = 0.007) on the relationship between risk factors and depression. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that overall nutritional adequacy plays a modulating role in determining the relationship between depression and lifestyle risk factors in Korean adults.

Eating Speed, Physical Activity, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Are Independent Predictors of Metabolic Syndrome in Korean University Students.

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the role of eating quickly, physical inactivity, and poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in assessing the onset of metabolic syndrome (Mets) in Korean young adults. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between the three risk factors and Mets in 1891 Korean university students (30% female) aged 18-29 years. METHODS: Eating speed (slow vs. fast) and physical activity (active vs. inactive) were assessed with a standardized questionnaire. Maximal oxygen uptake as an indicator of CRF was assessed with graded exercise testing. Components of Mets were waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC). RESULTS: All the three exposures were positively associated with abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressures, elevated FBG, elevated TG, and decreased HDLC. Logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio (OR) of Mets was incremental in the order of physical inactivity (odds ratio, OR = 1.666; 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.024-2.708; p = 0.040), fast eating (OR = 1.687; 95% CI = 1.094-2.601; p = 0.018), and poor CRF (OR = 5.378; 95% CI = 3.475-8.325; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that a multifaceted intervention targeting at promotion of physical activity and CRF in concert with healthy eating behaviors should be implemented as a preventive strategy against Mets in Korean university students.

Divergent temporal courses for liking versus wanting in response to persuasion.

Liking and wanting are two foundational processes underlying the individual's reward system. Whereas the differences between liking and wanting have been studied extensively in the context of substance addiction, there have been few empirical studies of their manifestation in ordinary, nonaddictive contexts of behavior. In particular, previous research showed a temporal divergence of liking and wanting over repeated exposures to drugs; however, the temporal progression of liking versus wanting in response to ordinary stimuli remains less understood. This research tests the temporal divergence of liking versus wanting responses in a prevalent domain-namely, in response to persuasive messages-using a highly powered field experiment involving over 1,000 real-life stimuli and 100,000 subjects. Subjects were exposed to sequences of TV advertisements in random orderings and indicated how much they liked the persuasive messages and wanted the promoted items. We found, not surprisingly, an overall positive correlation whereby greater message liking was associated with greater wanting of the item. However, underlying the overall correlation, we found a sharp divergence with respect to the serial progression of liking versus wanting. Specifically, message liking was highest early in the sequence, whereas wanting of the promoted item was highest late in the sequence. We posit and provide evidence that this divergence is due to an appetizing effect for wanting, in contrast to a habituation and reference adaptation effect for liking. We discuss the implications of our results for theories of liking versus wanting for addictive as well as ordinary substances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).