摘要：The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of long-term exercise on the maintenance of concentration, as an indicator of the activity level of the cerebral cortex, and on the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in healthy elderly persons. Forty-six subjects were divided into three groups: a long-term exercise group (LTE-G) of 21 subjects (mean age: 67 years); a health exercise group (HE-G) of 12 subjects (mean age: 69 years); and a sedentary control group (SC-G) of 13 subjects (mean age: 70 years). We assessed the target aiming function (TAF), the POMS, and the presence in the urine of the following compounds: 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and acrolein (ACR) as indicators of oxidative stress; adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine as indicators of sympathetic nervous activity. The mean TAF-L values, which represent the level of mental concentration, were statistically lower in the LTE-G and HE-G than in the SC-G. The mean TAF-D values, indicating deviation levels, were significantly lower in the HE-G than in the SC-G. Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) scores, which are the scored totals of POMS tests, and the scores on the “Confusion” factor were clearly lower in the LTE-G and HE-G than in the SC-G. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in 8-OHdG, ACR, adrenaline, noradrenaline or dopamine values among the three groups. These results suggest that the continuation of exercise improves the cerebral cortical activity, the maintenance of concentration, and the POMS scores of healthy elderly persons. Keywords: Healthy exercise; Long-term exercise; Maintenance of concentration; Cerebral cortical activity; Profile of Mood States
