Abstract

BANHATO, Eliane F. C. et al. Physical activity, cognition and aging: an urban comunity study. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2009, vol.11, n.1, pp. 76-84. ISSN 1516-3687.

One important factor for healthy aging is the activity, which refers to physical and cognitive exercises done individually or in groups. I n Brazil this relationship is still few explored. The goal of this study was to compare the cognitive performance of active and sedentary elderly from community. 394 community elderly people, with mean age of 71.01 (SD = 8.05) and 6.10 (SD = 4.52) years of scholarship, from community were assessed. MMSE, Digit Span and Verbal Fluency beyond and a questionnaire about physical activity were used. The results showed that most of the elderly people was female (69.5%), with 43.9% practicing some physical activity and from these, more than a half done by own will, specially walk. The most actives were younger, had higher scores in cognitive assessment and had more schooling. I t was observed a statistically significant relationship between activity, scholarship and cognition. Further studies could explore the relationship between these variables for the implementation of effective health policies for the aging population.

Keywords : Aging; Cognition; Physical activity; Memory; Scholarship.

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