Exercise effectiveness on reaction and response times in older people

BACKGROUND: Physical activities have effects on the improvement of motor performance. Age-related changes revealed that different factors were effective on the reaction and response time. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of exercise and physical activities on the reaction and response times in older people. METHODS: The study method was casual-comparative and the study population consisted of older people of Sanandaj City, Iran. 30 inactive persons were randomly selected and 30 active and available persons were also selected in this city, and their reaction and response times were measured. The reaction and response times were measured by the reaction timer made by Takei Company (model YB1000) and through the Nelson's Speed of Movement test, respectively. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S test) and independent t-test were used for data analysis of the descriptive statistics (P < 0.05). RESULTS: K-S test revealed that results had a normal distribution. According to the findings, exercise and physical activity had a positive effect on reaction and response times, so that the results of the independent t-test showed that the active group had significantly lower reaction time (P < 0.001) and response time (P < 0.001) than the inactive group. CONCLUSION: Exercise and physical activities lead to the decrement in reaction and response times through the positive physiological and psychomotor changes.