Abstract

Older adults comprise the fastest growing global demographic and are at increased risk of poor mental health outcomes. Although aerobic exercise and sleep are critical to the preservation of emotional well-being, few studies have examined their combined mood-enhancing effects, or the potential neural mechanisms underlying these effects. Here, we used a randomized crossover design to test the impact of acute exercise on mood and the intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) of the cingulo-opercular network in physically healthy older adults. Wrist actigraphy provided objective indices of sleep. Results revealed that 30 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise acutely enhanced positive affect (PA) and reduced iFC between the cingulo-opercular network and the hippocampus. Both effects were magnified among older adults with greater sleep disturbance. Exercise-induced changes in hippocampal iFC mediated relations between sleep disturbance and exercise-induced increases in PA. These findings provide evidence that aerobic exercise enhances mood, that it does so by altering connectivity between the anterior insula—a key hub in the cingulo-opercular network—and the hippocampus and that lower sleep quality is a stronger predictor of these effects among older adults. These observations underscore the benefits of moderate-intensity exercise—a safe and scalable behavioral intervention—and provide new clues about the neural circuitry underlying the interactive effects of sleep and exercise on mood.

中文翻译：

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运动对老年人情绪的影响通过睡眠来调节，并通过改变大脑连接来调节

 抽象的

老年人是全球人口增长最快的群体，心理健康状况不佳的风险增加。尽管有氧运动和睡眠对于保持情绪健康至关重要，但很少有研究探讨它们的综合情绪增强作用，或这些作用背后的潜在神经机制。在这里，我们使用随机交叉设计来测试急性运动对身体健康的老年人的情绪和扣带-鳃盖网络的内在功能连接（iFC）的影响。手腕活动记录仪提供了客观的睡眠指标。结果显示，30 分钟的中等强度有氧运动可显着增强积极情感 (PA)，并减少扣带盖网络和海马体之间的 iFC。这两种影响在睡眠障碍更严重的老年人中都会被放大。运动引起的海马 iFC 变化介导了睡眠障碍和运动引起的 PA 增加之间的关系。这些发现提供的证据表明，有氧运动可以增强情绪，它是通过改变前岛叶（扣带盖网络的关键枢纽）和海马体之间的连接来实现的，并且较低的睡眠质量是老年人中这些影响的更强预测因素。这些观察结果强调了中等强度运动（一种安全且可扩展的行为干预）的好处，并提供了有关睡眠和运动对情绪相互作用影响的神经回路的新线索。