Does cardio-respiratory fitness protect memory from sleep deprivation?

Ayotte, B. et al. (2023) Does cardio-respiratory fitness protect memory from sleep deprivation? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, (doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003200) (PMID:37379255) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Introduction: Animal studies have demonstrated that physical exercise can protect memory from the effects of sleep deprivation (SD). We examined whether having a high cardio-respiratory fitness (VO2peak) is associated with an enhanced capacity to encode episodic memory after one night of SD. Methods: Twenty-nine healthy young participants were allocated into either a SD group (N = 19) that underwent 30 hours of uninterrupted wakefulness, or a sleep control (SC) group (N = 10) that followed a regular sleep routine. Following either the SD or SC period, participants were asked to view 150 images as the encoding part of the episodic memory task. Ninety-six hours after viewing the images, participants returned to the laboratory to perform the recognition part of the episodic memory task, which required the visual discrimination of the 150 images previously presented from 75 new images introduced as distractors. Cardio-respiratory fitness (VO2peak) was assessed with a bike ergometer graded exercise test. Group differences in memory performance were assessed with independent t-tests and associations between VO2peak and memory with multiple linear regression. Results: The SD group showed a significant increase in subjective fatigue (MD[SE] = 38.94[8.82]; p = 0.0001), and a worse capacity to identify the original 150 images (MD[SE] = -0.18[0.06]; p = 0.005) and discriminate them from distractors (MD[SE] = -0.78[0.21] p = 0.001). When adjusted for fatigue, higher VO2peak was significantly associated with better memory scores in the SD (R2 = 0.41; β[SE] = 0.03[0.01]; p = 0.015) but not in the SC group (R2 = 0.23; β[SE] = 0.02[0.03]; p = 0.408). Conclusions: These results confirm that SD prior to encoding impairs the capacity to create robust episodic memories and provide preliminary support to the hypothesis that maintaining high levels of cardio-respiratory fitness could have a protective effect against the disruptive effects of sleep loss on memory.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Robertson, Professor Edwin
• Authors: Ayotte, B., Cristini, J., Lotlikar, M., Parwanta, Z., Cosette, P., Gasparovic, L., Yee-Wong, M., Yue He, Q., Doyon, J., Dal Maso, F., Carrier, J., Steib, S., Robertson, E. M., and Roig, M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
• Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
• ISSN: 0195-9131
• ISSN (Online): 1530-0315
• Published Online: 28 June 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 American College of Sports Medicine
• First Published: First published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy