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Systematic review
Effects of reducing sedentary behaviour by increasing physical activity, on cognitive function, brain function and structure across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analysis
  1. Natan Feter1,
  2. Tomasz S Ligeza2,
  3. Neha Bashir3,4,
  4. Ramiya J Shanmugam3,4,
  5. Bryan Montero Herrera3,5,
  6. Tamara Aldabbagh3,6,
  7. Anne-Farah Usman3,4,
  8. Ayumi Yonezawa3,4,
  9. Shane McCarthy3,7,
  10. Danielle Herrera3,8,
  11. Denise Vargas3,4,
  12. Emaad M Mir3,4,
  13. Talha Syed3,9,
  14. Sanam Desai3,
  15. Hector Shi3,9,
  16. William Kim3,10,
  17. Natalie Puhar3,9,
  18. Kushi Gowda3,11,
  19. Olivia Nowak3,12,
  20. Jin Kuang3,13,
  21. Flor Quiroz3,9,
  22. Eduardo L Caputo14,
  23. Qian Yu13,
  24. JJ Pionke15,
  25. Liye Zou13,
  26. Lauren B Raine16,17,
  27. Gabriele Gratton9,18,
  28. Monica Fabiani9,18,
  29. David R Lubans19,20,21,
  30. Pedro C Hallal3,
  31. Dominika M Pindus3,18,22
  1. 1Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
  2. 2Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
  3. 3Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  4. 4The School of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  5. 5Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
  6. 6School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  7. 7Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  8. 8Department of Surgery, Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  9. 9Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  10. 10Department of Economics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  11. 11College of Medicine Peoria, University of Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, USA
  12. 12Research & Development Solutions, IQVIA, Overland Park, Kansas, USA
  13. 13School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
  14. 14School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
  15. 15iSchool, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
  16. 16Department of Physical Therapy, Movement & Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  17. 17Department of Medical Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  18. 18Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  19. 19College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle Australia, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia
  20. 20Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia
  21. 21Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
  22. 22Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Dominika M Pindus; pindus{at}illinois.edu

Abstract

Objective To examine the acute and chronic effects of reducing prolonged sedentary time (ST) with physical activity (PA) on cognitive and brain health.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and ProQuest Dissertation and Theses.

Eligibility criteria Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published from inception to 17 June 2024, with healthy participants without cognitive impairment or neurological conditions that affect cognitive functioning, aged ≥4 years, testing acute and chronic effects of reducing ST and/or prolonged ST by reallocating ST to PA on cognitive function, brain function, and structure.

Results We included 25 RCTs (n=1289) investigating acute (21 studies) and chronic (4 studies) effects on cognitive function (acute: n=20, chronic: n=4) and brain function (acute: n=7, chronic: n=1); there were no studies on brain structure. Acutely interrupting continuous ST with either multiple or a single PA bout improved cognitive function measured from 3 hours to three consecutive days based on 91 effect sizes (g=0.17, 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.29, p=0.005, I2=45.5%). When comparing single versus multiple PA bouts, only multiple PA bouts yielded a positive effect on cognitive function based on 72 effect sizes (g=0.20, 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.35, p=0.006; I2=48.8%). Chronic studies reported null findings on cognitive function (n=4), with some evidence of improved neural efficiency of the hippocampus (n=1).

Conclusion Interrupting ST with PA acutely improves cognitive function. The evidence from chronic studies remains inconclusive.

Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42020200998.

  • sedentary behavior
  • physical activity
  • brain

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository. All data used in this study are publicly available in the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/wkyrb/?view_only=53fcae98b76b4f9e91f9208694512415.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108444

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available in a public, open access repository. All data used in this study are publicly available in the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/wkyrb/?view_only=53fcae98b76b4f9e91f9208694512415.

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    Footnotes

    • X @davidlubans

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it published Online First. The author ORCID details have been updated.

    • Contributors NF: drafted the manuscript and performed data analysis; TSL: acquired the data and performed qualitative data analysis; NB, RJS: screened and acquired the data; NP, TA, A-FU, AY, SM, DH, DV, EMM, TS, SD, HS, WK, KG, ON, FQ, ELC: screened the data; JJP: codesigned search strategies; TSL, LR, PCH: contributed to data interpretation; DMMP conceived of the work presented in the manuscript, designed search strategies, acquired the data, drafted the manuscript. All authors have critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content. DP acts as a guarantor for the study.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. NF is funded by the CNPq (150161/2023-9). TSL is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (2021/43/D/HS6/02959). LY was supported by Shenzhen Educational Research Funding [grant number zdzb2014], Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission [grant number 202307313000096], Social Science Foundation from the China’s Ministry of Education [grant number 23YJA880093], The Post-doctoral Fellowship [grant number 2022M711174], The National Center for Mental Health [grant number Z014], and Research Excellence Scholarships of Shenzhen University [grant number ZYZD2305] MF and GG are funded by the National Institute on Aging [grant numbers R01AG059878 and RF1AG062666]. DMP is funded by the National Institute on Aging [grant numbers R21AG080411-01A1 and R01AG059878].

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.