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

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 | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article 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trial Simon J. Schrenk, Corinna Bang, Lena Best, Thomas Dost, Stefano Flor, and 15 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039036/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version 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 visual processing speed remained unaffected, the findings suggest selective cognitive and associated brain connectivity benefits, particularly in memory and attention-related networks. The online format provided key advantages, such as minimizing social interaction as a potential confounder, ensuring broad accessibility, and enabling scalable implementation without specialized personnel. These results suggest that multicomponent physical training delivered online may support brain and cognitive health in older adults by targeting specific cognitive and neural mechanisms. Sources of funding: This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no 859890)y. KF received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG; FI 1424/2–2) and AR-R from the IZKF Advanced Medical Scientist Program of Jena University Hospital. CF and CG received funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation IMPULS program (project number: P2019-01-006). Trial registration: The study was registered on the German Clinical Trials Register: https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00028022 . Aging cognition resting-state MRI gut microbiome gut-brain axis lifestyle intervention Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterials.docx CONSORTchecklist.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7039036","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":481999219,"identity":"eebe8893-7e18-455f-92f6-fbfe4ef4b537","order_by":0,"name":"Simon J. 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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.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe primary outcome showed no significant between-group differences. However, exploratory analyses revealed improvements in inhibition (\u003cem\u003eη2\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.061; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.025) and visual memory (\u003cem\u003eη2\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.047; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.040) in the physical activity group, which also showed increased rsFC between the visual and dorsal attention networks (\u003cem\u003eη2\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.101; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.009). Visual memory gains correlated with improvements in rsFC (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.013). No between-group differences were observed in gut microbiome composition.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile visual processing speed remained unaffected, the findings suggest selective cognitive and associated brain connectivity benefits, particularly in memory and attention-related networks. The online format provided key advantages, such as minimizing social interaction as a potential confounder, ensuring broad accessibility, and enabling scalable implementation without specialized personnel. These results suggest that multicomponent physical training delivered online may support brain and cognitive health in older adults by targeting specific cognitive and neural mechanisms.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eSources of funding:\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e This project received funding from the European Union\u0026rsquo;s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no 859890)y. KF received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG; FI 1424/2\u0026ndash;2) and AR-R from the IZKF Advanced Medical Scientist Program of Jena University Hospital. CF and CG received funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation IMPULS program (project number: P2019-01-006).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eTrial registration:\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe study was registered on the German Clinical Trials Register: \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00028022\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00028022\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"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","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-08-05 13:57:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039036/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7e652b06-1661-4dc8-bed7-74654618c19d","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-15T09:39:03+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-08-05 13:57:24","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7039036","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7039036","identity":"rs-7039036","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}