Alexandra Wennberg, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Skidmore College Echo Leaver, PhD., Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Aiken Healthy aging is associated with decreased executive function. Certain lifestyle factors have been shown to mediate this age-related decline. These factors include diet, exercise and sleep habits. Questionnaires were used to assess these factors. Here we present the effects of exercise, diet and sleep habits on cognition. We used a battery of neuropsychological tests of working memory span, executive functioning, long term memory, and processing speed to explore the relationship between these lifestyle factors and cognitive decline in older adults (OAs), and to what extent this decline can be mediated by a healthy lifestyle. Questionnaires 1. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) How many hours of actual sleep do you get at night (this may be different than the number of hours you spend in bed)? Higher scores indicate worse sleep habits. 2. Food diary Record of exact foods and quantities eaten over the course of 3 days. The food diaries were analyzed with the program FitDay. 3. Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) Over the past 7 days how often have you participated in light/moderate/strenuous activity? Higher scores indicate more physical activity. Neuropsychological tests: A broad range of neuropsychological tests, used to assess cognition and behavior, was administered to the participants. The tests included paper and pencil tasks, the use of props, such as playing cards, and computer tasks. Neuropsychological tests are designed to evaluate specific areas of cognition, such as learning concepts associated with frontal lobe functioning, ability to switch rule sets or focus, or flexibility of verbal thought processes. The specific tests we used were: CFL/Animals, Selective Reminder Task, Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Stroop, Trailmaking A & B, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Operation-span. Main effect of age on cognition: OAs performed worse on the neuropsychological tests. Main effect of age on lifestyle: -OAs were less physically active than YAs. -Unexpectedly, YAs had worse overall sleeping habits than OAs; however, poor YA sleepers scored better on the PSQI than poor OA sleepers. -Lifestyle minimally affected cognition in YAs. YAs were more impervious to lack of sleep and exercise as compared to OAs, who were greatly affected by their lifestyle habits. In some instances YAs who were classified as poor in their lifestyle habits outperformed their healthy counterparts. Unhealthy OAs performed worse than their healthy counterparts. Effect of lifestyle on cognition: Healthier individuals from both age groups performed better on neuropsychological tests (Selective Reminding Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and Trailmaking A). The Effect of Lifestyle on Cognition and Aging IntroductionMethod Results Discussion. *Many thanks to Abbey Frawley, Tim Marsh, Aviva Ariel, Sarah Marriot, Saranya Soundararajan, Alex Mendelsohn, Ben Glicksberg and Cecie Culp for running subjects and coding data * * Hypotheses Main effect of age on cognition: OAs, regardless of their lifestyle habits, were expected to perform worse on the neuropsychological tests than younger adults (YAs). Main effect of age on lifestyle: OAs were expected to have poorer sleep health and to be less active than YAs. Additionally, YAs are expected to be more cognitively resilient in response to unhealthy lifestyle habits. Lifestyle effects were expected be more pronounced in the OA group. Effect of lifestyle on cognition: Regardless of age, individuals who were more active, had a healthy diet and experienced good quality sleep were expected to perform better than individuals who were less active, with a worse diet and experienced poorer quality of sleep. Additional significant results: Selective Reminder Task: -long term and short term memory -Age: YA > OA, Age + PASE: YA active > YA inactive > OA active > OA inactive -Diet: Unhealthy YA> Healthy YA> Healthy OA> Unhealthy OA Operation Span: -working memory -YA > OA Wisconsin Card Sorting Task: -frontal lobe function -YA > OA, sleepers > poor sleepers Wisconsin Card Sorting Test A) YA > OA. C) Unhealthy YA > Healthy YA > Healthy OA > Unhealthy OA. B) OA > YA, YA poor > OA poor. * * **This project was funded by Skidmore College Faculty Development Grant (Echo Leaver), Summer Faculty/Student Research Program (Echo Leaver and Alexandra Wennberg), a grant from the Skidmore College Student Opportunity Fund, and the Psychology Department. * * * * * *