Mastering the Relationship between the Body and the Brain? The Case of a Female Master Athlete

ABSTRACT

Background

Physical inactivity significantly increases risk of cardiovascular diseases, which are highly prevalent in aging. Conversely, higher levels of physical activity in aging have been associated with benefits for physical and cognitive health and is hypothesized to prevent and reduce development of cardiovascular risk factors. However, those older adults with the highest activity levels (i.e., Master Athletes [MA]) are relatively understudied, and even fewer studies involve female MA.

Objective

The aim of this study was to compare the physiological, physical, and cognitive profiles of an 83-year-old track-and-field MA runner to a sample of inactive age-matched females.

Results

Results revealed the MA had a high peak oxygen uptake and had superior performance on visuospatial memory tasks compared to her inactive counterparts. Cerebral blood flow was slightly elevated in the MA, but lower cerebrovascular reactivity was revealed compared to the other female included in the magnetic resonance imaging portion.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that high levels of physical activity have benefits on multiple aspects of an aging female’s life and that more studies should include MA, as well as a spectrum of cardiorespiratory fitness to further understand the role of physical activity in female aging.

Highlights

• High amounts of aerobic training seem to have multiple benefits to aging

• This female master athlete had better physical quality of life, functional (speed of walking), physiological (Vo2Peak, body composition) and cognitive (memory) performances than her inactive counterparts

• Results showed that she had higher cerebral blood flow and slightly lower cerebrovascular reactivity than the inactive participant

Authors Contributions

KS contributed to conceptualization; methodology; validation; analysis; investigation; data curation; writing of the original draft as well as reviewing and editing; project administration. BI contributed to conceptualization; methodology; validation; data curation; analysis; investigation; writing of original draft and reviewing and editing. BB contributed to methodology; validation; analysis; investigation; data curation; writing of the original draft and reviewing and editing. SS contributed to analysis; data curation; validation; writing- reviewing and editing. CG contributed to conceptualization; methodology; validation; writing the original draft and reviewing and editing; supervision. LB contributed to conceptualization; methodology; formal analysis; investigation; writing of the original draft and reviewing and editing; supervision.

Availability of data and material

The datasets analyzed, and the code used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Consent to participate

All participants included in this study gave written informed consent to participate and gave written informed consent regarding publishing their data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the ethical review board of the Research Center of the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CER IUGM 15-16-14) in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. This study was titled: « Les bienfaits de l’entraînement cognitif et de l’activité physique sur la cognition, la santé physique et la mobilité des personnes âgées. ». Ethics approval was granted to Louis Bherer Ph.D.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2022.2109340

Additional information

Funding

This study received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (MOP-136859) (L.B.); Mirella and Lino Saputo Research Chair in Cardiovascular diseases and the prevention of cognitive decline from Université de Montréal at the Montreal Heart Institute (L.B.); the Drummond Foundation (C.J.G.); the Heart and Stroke Foundation (New Investigator Award held by C.J.G.); the Michal and Renata Hornstein Chair in Cardiovascular Imaging (C.J.G.);The Heart and Stroke Foundation Grant-in-Aid [17-0018336];The Heart and Stroke Foundation - New Investigator Award [N/A];