中高齡者運動行為與工作記憶之研究

Abstract

隨著高齡社會來臨，失智海嘯衝擊，如何維持認知功能是一重要議題。研究指出，認知功能隨著年齡增長逐漸衰退，其中工作記憶是受老化影響最大的能力之一。過去研究指出，運動可以改變大腦結構，進而對認知功能有顯著正向影響。然而，運動的項目、頻率、持續時間與強度，對小腦神經細胞與突觸之連結，及大腦認知功能呈現出選擇性的效益。研究目的為探討中高齡者運動行為與工作記憶的現況，分析背景變項與二個變項之間的差異，並探討變項之間的相關性。研究方法採便利抽樣法，抽取居住在大臺北地區187位中高齡者為研究對象，以問卷調查法調查其運動行為，並施以N-back任務、數值史楚普效應測驗工具來測量工作記憶表現。研究資料以描述性統計、獨立樣本t檢定、獨立樣本單因子變異數分析、相關分析、集群分析法進行分析。研究結果顯示年齡、從業身分會影響運動項目之參與程度，而年齡、教育程度、從業身分、職業身分、慢性病會影響工作記憶表現。再以集群分析，將運動項目分為三群組，發現「短時高強度快走組」及「長時高強度運動組」其工作記憶表現較「短時低強度走路組」好。建議中高齡者應從事高強度以上之運動，並選擇具有運動效益之參與型態，如騎單車、球類、體適能運動，以減緩認知老化的速度，來提升晚年的生活品質。With the arrival of elderly society and the surging of dementia, how to maintain cognitive function is an important issue. Studies have shown that cognitive function declines with age, and working memory is one of the most affected by aging. Past research has pointed out that exercise can change the structure of the brain and thus have a significant positive impact on cognitive function. However, the type, frequency, duration and intensity of exercise have a selective benefit on the connection of cerebellar nerve cells to synapses and brain cognitive function. The purpose of the study is to explore the current state of exercise behavior and working memory of middle-aged people, to analyze the differences between background variables and the above two variables, and explore the correlation between variables. The research method used convenience sampling to 187 middle-aged people living in the Taipei area as research objects. The questionnaires are used to investigate their sports behaviors, N-back task and Numerical Stroop task as a test tool for measuring working memory performance. The study data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and cluster analysis. The results show that age and employment status would affect the participation of exercise patterns. And age, education, employment, occupation, and whether they have chronic diseases or wouldn’t affect working memory performance. In the cluster analysis, the sports patterns were divided into three groups. We found that "Short-term high-intensity fast-moving group ", and " Long-term high-intensity exercise group " has better working memory performance than the " Short-term low-intensity walking group ". It is suggested that middle-aged and older people should engage in high-frequency exercise behaviors with high intensity and better efficiency type of exercise, like cycling, balls, physical exercise, to slow down the speed of cognitive aging and improve the quality of life in later years.