The Role of Physical Activity Across the Lifespan on Brain Structure and Function After Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Dell, Kristine
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 08, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Kristin Buss (she/her), Program Head/Chair
Jenae Neiderhiser, Major Field Member
Frank Hillary, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
David Proctor, Outside Unit & Field Member
Peter Arnett, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- traumatic brain injury
physical activity
sedentary behavior - Abstract:
- Healthy aging is an innate process contributing to the progressive decline in the body’s ability to maintain homeostasis resulting in physiological decline consisting of normative multicomponent and systemic changes throughout the body. Research has also demonstrated that an aging process encumbered by multiple chronic conditions, disease, or injury (notably moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI)), can exacerbate the expected age-related declines in various body systems, resulting in pathological or accelerated aging, disability, and premature death. In Paper 1, we demonstrated the importance of reducing sedentary time in a typical week on neuropsychological outcomes in adults aging with a history of moderate-severe TBI (msTBI) but not control participants. In Paper 2, the influences of physical activity (PA) across the lifespan exerted differential and region-specific effects within the brain exclusively for adults aging with ms TBI. In Paper 3, greater whole brain fractional anisotropy (indexing greater white matter brain health) was observed to increase with greater lifetime history of PA compared to controls, whereas minimizing weekly sedentary time proved more impactful in predicting greater FA within adults aging with msTBI. Cultivating opportunities to maintain engagement with PA and reduce stagnant sedentary time are crucial to support existing healthy aging processes, and may possibly stabilize specific challenges of aging with a history of msTBI (changes in cognition and select neuroimaging outcomes). Evaluations of time spent sitting in a typical day or week represent implementable benchmarks for providers, patients, and caregivers to ensure patients (regardless of injury status) remain cognitively engaged in service of promoting greater total health.