Floor and Step Aerobics as an Exercise Intervention to Enhance Cognition in Breast Cancer Survivors

Julie Larsen

Breast cancer survivors suffer from immediate and late adverse effects of treatment, which reduce their quality of life. Regular exercise improves many health-related outcomes, but relatively little research has been done to discover an effective treatment for cancer-induced cognitive dysfunction. Aerobic exercise can enhance cognition in a variety of healthy and clinical populations, demonstrating potential effectiveness in breast cancer survivors. The purpose of this dissertation was to define an effective intervention for improving cognition in recent breast cancer survivors. Exercise interventions were primarily considered because of their potential to improve other outcomes while enhancing cognition. Specifically, a comparison was made between floor/step aerobics (FSA) and treadmill walking (TMW). FSA provides cognitive stimulation by requiring participants to follow oral directions, remember routines, and frequently change movement patterns. Therefore, our first hypothesis was that although both exercise modalities would improve cognition, participation in FSA would increase cognition to a greater extent than would TMW. We also wanted to ensure that the cognitively challenging FSA routines did not diminish the fitness benefits of aerobic exercise when compared to doing an equally intense TMW workout. A final factor under consideration was whether women strongly preferred one exercise modality over another, because women are not likely to adhere to a poorly accepted exercise program. The second hypothesis was that cardiorespiratory fitness would improve similarly between groups and that FSA would provide greater satisfaction than would TMW. In order to test these two hypotheses, we conducted a study of healthy women, followed by a study of breast cancer survivors. While we found few statistically significant differences between groups, we demonstrated trends toward greater cognitive improvements among FSA participants than among TMW participants. Women in FSA expressed slightly greater exercise modality satisfaction than women in TMW. The groups experienced similar improvement in fitness following the intervention. Overall, these results suggest that recent breast cancer survivors should be encouraged to regularly participate in aerobic exercise, using a cognitively stimulating modality. When frequency, intensity, and time of exercise are comparable, FSA will provide similar or greater improvements in health-related quality of life outcomes than will traditional exercise modalities.

Floor and Step Aerobics as an Exercise Intervention to Enhance Cognition in Breast Cancer Survivors

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