Impact of an online-guided physical activity intervention on cognition, resting-state brain connectivity, and the gut microbiome in healthy older adults—a randomized controlled trial

作者：Simon Schrenk, Corinna Bang, Lena Best, Thomas Dost, Stefano Flor, Christiane Frahm, Christian Gaser, Rami Abou Hamdan, Marco Herbsleb, Christoph Kaleta, Fabian Kattlun, Hans-Josef Müller, Christian Puta, Monique Radscheidt, Adriana L. Ruiz‐Rizzo, André Scherag, Thomas Steidten, Otto W. Witte, Stefan Brodoehl, Kathrin Finke · 发表于：GeroScience · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1007/s11357-026-02324-6 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control、Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Abstract Background Physical activity may enhance cognition in older adults, yet evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on mechanistic pathways remains inconclusive. Methods This single-blinded RCT examined the effects of an eight-week, online-guided, multicomponent physical activity intervention on cognitive functions, resting-state functional brain connectivity (rsFC), and the gut microbiome in 92 healthy older adults (46 per group). Participants were randomly assigned to a physical activity group performing moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic exercises along with coordination and balance training, or to an active control group engaging in progressive muscle relaxation and listening to podcasts on aging-related topics. The primary outcome was the change in visual processing speed (in number of items/s) from pre- to post-assessment. Secondary outcomes included changes in further cognitive measures, rsFC, and diversity indices of the gut microbiome. Results The primary outcome showed no significant between-group differences. However, exploratory analyses revealed improvements in inhibition ( η2 = .061; p = .025) and visual memory ( η2 = .047; p = .040) in the physical activity group, which also showed increased rsFC between the visual and dorsal attention networks ( η2 = .101; p = .009). Visual memory gains correlated with improvements in rsFC ( p = .013). No between-group differences were observed in gut microbiome composition. Conclusions While visu...