Report on the evaluation experiment of the physiological and psychological effects of brain training rhythm exercises
September 27, 2019 TAOS Research Institute, Inc.
1. Background
The nonprofit organization Dance Life Communications practices Brain Training Rhythm Exercises. Brain Training Rhythm Exercises are dual-task exercises that combine hand games (intellectual stimulation) with rhythmic exercise (aerobic exercise), and are intended to activate the brain, body, and mind. However, no quantitative evaluation of Brain Training Rhythm Exercises has been conducted to date. Therefore, in this experiment, we investigated the physiological and psychological effects of Brain Training Rhythm Exercises.
2. Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to quantitatively evaluate the effects of Brain Training Rhythm Exercises on the body using physiological and psychological indices.
3. Experimental Method
Before and after the Brain Training Rhythm Exercises, participants were given a 2-minute pulse wave measurement and a psychological questionnaire using the Japanese abbreviated version of the POMS [1] . The participants were informed of the purpose and method of the experiment in advance. Written consent was obtained from the participants themselves regarding their participation in the experiment and the handling of their personal information.
Experiment location: Conducted in August 2019
Experiment date and time: TAOS Research Institute, Inc.
Participants: 8 men and women (average age: 47±17 years)
Experimental protocol: POMS → pulse wave measurement (2 min) → rhythmic exercise (30 min or more) → pulse wave measurement (2 min) → POMS
4. Analysis Method
Pulse wave: After peak detection from the pulse wave, the PPI was calculated. Then, the heart rate was calculated and frequency analysis was performed. In addition, chaos analysis was performed using the pulse wave data to calculate the maximum Lyapunov exponent and entropy.
POMS: T-scores were calculated for each of the six mood scales: tension-anxiety (TA), depression-depression (D), anger-hostility (AH), vigor (V), fatigue (F), and confusion (C).
Statistical evaluation method: Statistical evaluation of each index before and after exercise was performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
5. Results and Discussion
5.1. Physiological Indicators
Figure 1 shows the physiological indices before and after the Brain Training Rhythm Exercise.
Heart rate: Heart rate increased before and after the experiment (p < 0.1). This suggests that the sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant during Brain Training Rhythm Exercises.
TP: No significant difference was observed in Total Power before and after the experiment (p > 0.1). TP is an index of mental fatigue, and it is believed that Brain Training Rhythm Exercises does not have a significant effect on mental fatigue.
Maximum Lyapunov exponent and entropy: The maximum Lyapunov exponent increased significantly (p < 0.05) and entropy decreased (p < 0.1) before and after the experiment. The maximum Lyapunov exponent and entropy are indices of chaos analysis, and some reports suggest that an increase in the maximum Lyapunov exponent indicates an increase in cognitive function and brain activation state [2-4] . Therefore, it is believed that Brain Training Rhythm Exercises have the effect of increasing brain activation state.
5.2. Psychological indicators
Tension-anxiety (TA) and anger-hostility (AH) significantly decreased after the exercise. Therefore, it is believed that Brain Training Rhythm Exercises have the psychological effect of suppressing tension and anger.
6. Conclusion
This experiment was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the effects of Brain Training Rhythm Exercises on the body using physiological and psychological indices.The results revealed that Brain Training Rhythm Exercises are effective in increasing brain activation and suppressing tension and anger.
References
[1] Kazuhito Yokoyama. (2005). POMS Short Guide and Case Studies. Kaneko Shobo.
[2] Miao, T., Oyama-Higa, M., Sato, S., Kojima, J., & Reika, S. (2012). Chaos of plethysmogram in relation to scalp-EEG: a model and experiments. International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, 4(6), 557-566.
[3] Oyama-Higa, M., Miao, T., Hirohashi, Y., & Matsumoto-Mizuno, Y. (2009). Analysis of dementia in elderly person using nonlinear analysis of plethysmograms and effect of communications. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Early Detection and Rehabilitation Technology of Dementia (Vol. 2009).
[4] Akira Imanishi, Mayumi Oyama. (2009). The effect of differences in settings on the results of chaos analysis. Human Engineering, 45(2), 141-147.