Özet:

This study aims to investigate the acute effect of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on reaction time and dexterity in sedentary individuals aged 18-25 years. In the study, two randomized groups were formed with 40 healthy participants: Control (n=20) and Exercise (n=20). In the exercise group, a total of 30 minutes of walking exercise on flat ground without slope, consisting of 5 minutes of warm-up, 20 minutes of brisk walking, and 5 minutes of cool-down, was performed. The control group spent this time at rest. The "heart rate reserve" method (HRR) was used to determine the exercise intensity, and the calculation of individual target heart rates was made using the formula [THR=(HRmax-HRrest)×% intensity+HRrest]. Warm-up and cool-down periods were determined to be at low intensity (HRR 30-40%) and brisk walking period at medium-intensity (HRR 40-60%), and during the exercise process, the heart rate of the participants was monitored with “Polar FT7”. The Ruler-Drop (RD) test was used to measure the reaction time, and the Purdue-Pegboard (PP) test was used to evaluate manual dexterity. RD and PP tests were repeated in 3 different periods: just before exercise (BE), immediately after (AE), and 30 minutes after (AE30). The reaction time in AE was significantly shortened in the exercise group compared to the BE and control group (p<0.05). It was observed that the PP-both hands skill score in the AE30 of the exercise group increased significantly compared to the BE and the control group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in PP-right hand, PP-left hand, PP-sum, and PP-assembly scores. Also, a negative correlation was found between reaction time and PP-both hands, PP-sum, and PP-assembly scores (p<0.05). Our study findings show that acute aerobic exercise performed at moderate-intensity can increase bilateral hand skill performance that requires hand-eye coordination by providing shortening of reaction time.

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