Effect of aerobic and resistance training on fractionated reaction time and speed of movement

One of the obvious consequences of aging is that we slow down; our ability to process and react to specific external information (psychomotor performance) has been said to diminish. However, there have been recent suggestions that physical activity may reduce the effect of age on psychomotor performance and that exercise training can improve it. While that may be true for older persons who have been physically active for most of their lives, it was found that for sedentary people, a six-month training program did not do much to improve either reaction time (RT) or speed of movement (SM), although aerobic capacity did increase. In this study, the effect of a six-month aerobic and variable resistance exercise training on reaction time (RT) and speed of movement (SM) was measured in 49 healthy but sedentary men and women who ranged in age from 70 to 79. The subjects were divided into three groups, including a control group, a walk/jog group and a variable resistance strength training group. Those in the control group were asked not to change their life styles over the six months of the study; those in the other two groups underwent progressive training programs. There were no differences with respect to total reaction time, motor time, or speed of movement between the groups. The authors suggest that to elicit significant improvements in psychomotor performance, less fit subjects, younger subjects, more complex reaction time tasks, and training for longer periods may be required. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)