Acute bouts of aerobic and resistance exercise similarly alter inhibitory control and response time while inversely modifying plasma BDNF concentrations in middle-aged and older adults with type 2 diabetes.

Impairments in several domains of cognitive functions are observed in people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), often accompanied by low Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations. Although aerobic and resistance exercise enhances cognitive functions and raises BDNF concentrations in several populations, it remained uncertain in T2DM subjects. This study compared the effects of a single bout of aerobic (AER, 40 min of treadmill walk at 90-95% of the maximum walk speed) or resistance (RES, 3 × 10 repetitions in eight exercises at 70% of 10-RM) exercise on specific cognitive domain performance and plasma BDNF concentrations of physically active T2DM subjects.