Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under CC BY-NC 4.0 license

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Physical Education and Sport Sciences Department, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran

3 Ph.D. Student of Motor Learning, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

4 Ph.D. Student of Motor Behavior, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

 
The aim of this study was to compare the effect of endurance exercise on the level of focus of attention and brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in non-athlete male and female students and to investigate the relationship between variations in these factors. 30 non-athlete students (mean age 24.1+1.6 years) were assigned to 4 groups: males, females, male control and female control based on the Stroop pretest. After blood samples were collected, they continued their endurance exercises for 5 weeks, 3 sessions per week, 40 min. each session with the intensity of 70-85% maximum heart rate based on the endurance exercise protocol. Results showed that endurance exercise significantly increased BDNF in both male and females) P<0.05), but the time of response to Stroop test significantly decreased only in male group) P<0.05). In addition, the results showed no significant differences between male and female groups in the effectiveness of endurance exercise on the time of response to Stroop test (P>0.05), but level of BDNF was significantly more in female group than the male group (P<0.05). The correlation between variations of response time to Stroop test and level of BDNF was not statistically significant in both male and female groups (P>0.05). Finally, according to these findings, it seems that endurance exercise can increase BDNF level and improve focus, but there are possible differences between males and females that need further research.

Keywords

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