Understanding Exercise Physiology and its Role in Cognitive Function while having PhUn in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Authors: Rivera Luis A , Cruz Myrella L , Torres‐Rodriguez Orlando I , Velazquez Johnathan , Flores Anabelle , Mendez Samary , Pacheco Wendy I , Appleyard Caroline B , Chompre Gladys 
Published: June 2021

Physiology Understanding Week (PhUn week) helps to bring science to school students of all levels, exposing them to emerging topics in the area of physiology research. Since 2015, after the NIH Common Fund launched the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans research program, topics related to better understanding how exercise impacts our health and biological molecules began to capture the attention of the research community. Still, introducing emerging topics in science to the general population in Puerto Rico remains limited.

Aim

To evaluate the outcome of introducing trending research topics during PhUn week activities to high school students in the southern part of Puerto Rico by assessing students' exercise habits and measuring their cognitive function.

Methods

A team of students, faculty and research staff from Ponce Health Sciences University‐Ponce Research Institute, Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico organized an independent half‐day workshop for high school students. The young students (n=79, 35 males and 44 females) were from Colegio San Conrado, Academia Cristo Rey and Academia Santa María, all high schools in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The workshops consisted of two short presentations that introduced what physiology is in the broader sense, then explained muscle physiology, and how exercise impacts health and cognitive function at the molecular level. Later, groups of students were divided into smaller clusters to rotate through interactive stations featuring: histology, anatomy, hippocampal function, reaction time and a CrossFit exercise routine. At each station the staff explained what the purpose of the activity was and were available to answer questions. All activities were conducted in Spanish to this predominantly hispanic population. Pre‐ and post‐tests evaluated student learning.

Results

After assessing students self‐reported weekly exercise time we found that 63.3% of students routinely practice a form of exercise defined as at least 6 hours a week, while 36.7% rarely exercised. The students who exercised showed quicker reaction times than the non‐exercising students, with females having significant shorter average reaction times (348.2±14.52 msec) than males (404±16.52 msec, p<0.05). By the end of the activity, the students demonstrated an increased understanding of basic physiology concepts by increasing the number of correct answers in their post‐test compared to the pre‐test, however this was not dependent on whether they exercised or not.

Conclusions

Providing emerging research topics that can be practical in students' daily activities, through short presentations and interactive workshops, helped them to understand the physiological mechanisms of exercise. Also, regular exercise in students resulted in quicker reaction times supporting the recently reported beneficial effects of exercise on cognitive function.

Support or Funding Information

Supported in part by R25GM082406, R25GM096955 & G12MD007579

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.