اثربخشی یک دوره تمرینات ورزش مغزی بر انعطاف‌پذیری شناختی مردان سالمند

مقدمه: انعطاف‌پذیری شناختی به عنوان توانمندی فرد در برقراری تعادل زیستی و روانی در شرایط خطرناک است و با افزایش سن کاهش می‌یابد. تمریناتی که بتواند انعطاف‌پذیری شناختی را بهبود ببخشند از اهمیت زیادی برخوردارند. هدف این پژوهش، بررسی اثربخشی یک دوره تمرینات ورزش مغزی بر انعطاف پذیری شناختی مردان سالمند بود.روش کار: پژوهش حاضر نیمه آزمایشی با طرح پیش‌ آزمون_پس‌ آزمون و گروه کنترل بود. جامعه آماری کلیه سالمندان مرد عضو کانون بازنشستگان شرکت نیشکر شهر شوش در سال 1397 بودند که از میان آنان 30 شرکت ‌کننده به صورت تصادفی و در دسترس انتخاب و در دو آزمایش و کنترل قرار گرفتند (هر گروه 15 نفر). گروه آزمایش طی هشت هفته، هفته ‌ای دو جلسه 30 دقیقه ‌ای به اجرای تمرینات ورزش مغزی پرداختند. از آزمون دسته ‌بندی کارت ویسکانسین را برای ارزیابی انعطاف‌ پذیری شناختی استفاده شد. داده‌ ها به وسیله آزمون تحلیل کوواریانس یک راهه در سطح معناداری (p≤0.05 ) به کمک نرم‌ افزار spss25 تحلیل شد.یافته ‌ها: نتایج نشان ‌دهندۀ وجود تفاوت معنادار بین گروه آزمایش و کنترل انعطاف ‌پذیری شناختی بود (0.01>p). با توجه به مقادیر میانگین گروه ‌ها مشخص شد که گروه آزمایش دارای انعطاف ‌پذیری شناختی بهتری نسبت به گروه کنترل بود.نتیجه ‌گیری: نتایج پژوهش حاضر نشان داد که یک دوره تمرینات ورزش مغزی موجب افزایش انعطاف ‌پذیری شناختی سالمندان می شود. بنابراین به مربیان و شاغلین در حوزه سالمندان پیشنهاد می شود برای بهبود انعطاف ‌پذیری از این روش جدید تمرینی استفاده شود.

Effectiveness of brain gym exercise on cognitive flexibility of male elderly

Introduction: The phenomenon of aging, according to the definition of the World Health Organization, refers to the age of 60, which is the result of the natural course of time, and leads to physiological, psychological and social changes in the elderly understanding the problems of aging is a challenge to any community. Cognitive disorders are among the most common problems in old age and have an extensive range of problems. Studies show that about 5% of people 65 and older have a severe cognitive impairment. Flexibility requires the ability to communicate with the present and differentiate oneself from thoughts and experiences within the psyche. Cognitive flexibility is considered an individualchr('39')s ability to making equilibrium between psychological and wellbeing factors in hazardous conditions and decreases with aging. Therefore, the exercises that improve the ability of cognitive flexibility are essential. Brain exercises develop neural pathways in the brain through movement. This method can improve cognitive, psychological, and motor functions, including cognitive flexibility, selfconfidence, selfesteem, coordination, and concentration. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of brain gym exercises on the cognitive flexibility of the male elderly.Methods: The present study method was semiexperimental with a preposttest design and a control group. To this end, 30 elder men were selected by the convenience sample method and randomly divided into two experimental (average mean: 85.7 ±4.41 years old) and control (average mean: 80.77 ±3.24 years old) groups. In the course of eight weeks, the experimental group conducted two sessions and each 30minute session to perform the brain gym exercises. Inclusion criteria for performing the present protocol were: the age of 61 and older, no Alzheimerchr('39')s (cognitive decline), the capacity to follow the set of instructions, ability to exercise, had no severe mobility problems, participated voluntarily in the study, and completed a consent form. Exclusion criteria included: not having enough motivation, not doing the movements correctly, and not attending training sessions regularly. The Wisconsin Card Storing Test was used to evaluate the flexibility of the participants. All the principles of ethics in research have been observed in this research. Participants were aware of the research rsquo;s purpose and were assured of the principle of information confidentiality. In addition, their informed written consent was obtained, and they could refuse to participate in the study if they wished. All stages of the present study were performed under the ethics principles in the research of the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz with the code of ethics EE/99.3.02.5277/scu.ac.irResults: Data were analyzed by a oneway ANCOVA test at a significant level P le;0.05. The covariance analysis results revealed there was a significant difference between the performances of the two groups at posttest (P le;0.01) that favored the experimental group.Conclusion: The present study results showed that a period of brain exercise training increases the cognitive flexibility of the elderly. According to obtained findings, performing longterm brain gym exercises can be an effective intervention to improve cognitive functions in elderly with cognitive flexibility disorder.