A meta-analytic review by Lambourne and Tomporowski (2010) looked at the effects of acute exercise on cognition in people and concluded that acute exercise has an overall positive effect on cognitive functioning. However, there was much variability in the findings mainly due to the diverse exercise regimens that have been undertaken around the type of exercise used along with the intensity, and duration. However, what the meta-analysis outlined by Tomporowski (2010) identified were three constant themes (1) improvements in cognitive tasks that depend primarily on the prefrontal cortex (2) enhancements in mood state and (3) decreases in stress level. There was also limited evidence of long-term memory and associative memory. Interestingly, the research by Tomporowski (2010) indicated that executive functions including attention, working memory, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, decision making, and inhibitory control receive the most benefit from acute exercise], with effects lasting for up to two hours post-exercise cessation. The research also speaks about the relationship between acute exercise and cognitive function as a subject of increasing attention (Byun et al., 2014; Chang, Labban, Gapin, & Etnier, 2012) with evidence pointing in the direction that acute exercise improves cognitive function (Byun et al., 2014). Chang et al (2012) mention that the relationship between cognitive function and exercise at various intensities, low to moderate intensity exercise leads to improved cognitive, however, how acute low-intensity exercise affects cognitive function is unclear.
Cognitive function refers to a wide range of different mental problem-solving processes, including memory, attention, language, novel problem-solving, and planning (Pessoa, 2008). Prior research has suggested that acute exercise improves cognitive function (Brisswalter, Collardeau, & René, 2002; Chang, Labban, Gapin, & Etnier, 2012; Crush & Loprinzi, 2017; Lambourne & Tomporowski, 2010; McMorris, 2016). A meta-analytic review indicated that, although effect sizes are small, even exercise at low intensity has the potential to benefit cognitive function (Chang et al., 2012). Stretching is considered a very low-intensity exercise, making stretching well suited to a broad, varied population, including inactive people. Stretching is often recommended to improve flexibility and optimize movement efficiency (Powers & Howley, 2012). Furthermore, acute stretching is known to have beneficial effects on mood states (Nagamatu & Kai, 2014; Sudo, Ando, & Nagamatu, 2015). Interestingly, a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging study reported that positive mood states activate specific brain areas including the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and striatum (Subramaniam et al., 2016). Subramaniam et al. (2016) indicated that brain activation induced by positive mood states is associated with improvement in cognitive performance. In a study by Sudo and Ando (2019) where they researched 19 males with a mean age to perform the Stroop task and complete the short form of the Profile of Moods Scale before and after 10 minutes of whole body stretching using yoga techniques and poses versus a resting period. In the stretching condition, the researchers reported they observed decreases in Tension–Anxiety, Depression–Dejection, Anger–Hostility, Fatigue, and Confusion scores on the Profile of Moods scale. Sudo and Ando (2019) also reported they observed a decrease in Stroop interference performance and found a greater increase in the Vigor score was associated with better cognitive performance suggesting that acute stretching improved Tension–Anxiety, Depression–Dejection, Anger–Hostility, Fatigue, Vigor, and Confusion scores improved only in the stretching condition with the improved cognitive performance being associated with the improved mood states. Through their findings, Sudo and Ando (2019) reported the improvements in several mood states and the cognitive improvements were not directly associated with physiological alterations and parameters as these were unchanged but through. This research indicated that the cognitive improvements may have been due to regions of the brain that are viewed as “cognitive” are also involved in emotion, making cognition and emotion integrated with brain functioning (Pessoa, 2008). The findings by Sudo and Ando (2019) relate to the findings by Subramaniam et al (2016) who suggested that brain activation is induced through positive mood states and in turn potentially improves cognitive function. This was the stance Sudo and Ando (2019) suggested that improvement of mood scores may relate to cognitive improvements seen within their participants. Prior research by Mandolesi et al (2018) has indicated the improvement of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the brain seen through positive altered mood states (Mandolesi et al., 2018) which may be hypothesised that alterations in neurotransmitters contribute to the mood benefits of acute stretching. Two such Neuromodulator according to Schwarz and Kindermann (1992) include endogenous opioids and endocannabinoids, which have shown to increase after acute bouts of exercise in humans (Fig. 1C). The endogenous opioid system according to Brooks (1988) includes three families of opioid peptides, these are namely the ß-endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins, which are involved in a variety of processes including pain modulation, reward, response to stress, and autonomic control (Mandolesi et al., 2018). It has been proposed by Schwarz and Kindermann (1992) that acute exercise like stretching causes significant increases in peripheral levels of endogenous opioids and corresponds to acute exercise-induced changes in HPA axis hormones, and is linked to improvements in mood and cognitive performance.
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