Exercise, Brain, and Cardiovascular Health

Guidelines for exercise programming (ACSM, 2018) will be followed including a warm up and cool down, progressive and gradual increments in duration, and instruction regarding avoidance of physical activity related injury. The exercise group will receive moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic exercise targeting 150 minutes per week for 12 months. The group will target dividing these minutes into 3 exercise sessions a week. The prescribed intensity will be based on their maximal fitness testing heart rate and then calculated per a research grade method. They will maintain a minimum heart rate from their specific calculation that will be monitored by Polar Heart Rate straps.

This group will not partake in the aerobic fitness sessions but will be asked to wear a daily monitoring device every 6 weeks. They will also complete all baseline, 6-month (optional), and 12-month visits.