Can caffeine intake combined with aerobic exercise lead to improvement in attentional and psychomotor performance in trained individuals?
Sergio Machado,
Alberto Souza Sá Filho,
Carlos Campos,
Carolina Cavalcante de Paula,
Fabyana Bernardes,
Eric Murillo-Rodriguez,
Geraldo A. Maranhão Neto,
Eduardo Lattari
Affiliations
Sergio Machado
Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience (LABNAF), Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University (PPGCAF/UNIVERSO), Niterói, Brazil; Intercontinental Neuroscience Research Group, Brazil; Corresponding author at: Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience (LABNAF), Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University (PPGCAF/UNIVERSO), Niterói, Brazil.
Alberto Souza Sá Filho
Department of Physical Education – University Center of Anápolis (UniEVANGÉLICA), Anápolis, Goiás (GO), Brazil; Department of Physical Education – Universidade Paulista (UNIP), Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
Carlos Campos
University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Carolina Cavalcante de Paula
Department of Cellular, Tissue and Developmental Biology at the Institute of Biomedical Science at the University of São Paulo (ICB/USP), São Paulo, Brazil
Fabyana Bernardes
Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience (LABNAF), Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University (PPGCAF/UNIVERSO), Niterói, Brazil; Intercontinental Neuroscience Research Group, Brazil
Eric Murillo-Rodriguez
Laboratorio de Neurociencias Moleculares e Integrativas Escuela de Medicina, División Ciencias de la Salud Universidad Anáhuac Mayab Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico; Intercontinental Neuroscience Research Group, Mexico
Geraldo A. Maranhão Neto
Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University (PPGCAF/UNIVERSO), Niterói, Brazil
Eduardo Lattari
Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience (LABNAF), Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University (PPGCAF/UNIVERSO), Niterói, Brazil; Intercontinental Neuroscience Research Group, Brazil
To evaluate the acute effects of ingestion of 500 mg of caffeine in addition to aerobic exercise on the optimization of cognitive attention tasks and simple reaction time. Twenty men were randomly divided into two groups, caffeine (CAF) and placebo (PLA), and underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing and cognitive testing (D2SLK, D2GZ, D2F% and TRS). Then, both ingested 500 mg of caffeine or placebo (double blind), and after 60 min performed a 30-minute continuous exercise session at 70 % VO2Max. Cognitive tests were repeated immediately after exercise, and after 30 min. D2SLK, D2GZ, D2F% and TRS scores were compared by repeated measures ANOVA. The magnitude of the effect was established, and it was considered meaningful p = 0.05. CAF is able to alter D2SLK and also reduce D2F% (0.001 - moderate effect, 0.82) and improve the task after 30 min of exercise (p = 0.014 - moderate effect 0.95). The TRS showed significant gains for the CAF group compared to PLA (0.000 - high effect 1.76). Caffeine induces significant effects in attention and reaction time domains independent of the effect of aerobic exercise.
