Gender based EEG before and after acute bout of aerobic exercise

Objective: We aimed to investigate how EEG frequency bands change in females in response to acute exercise compared to males. Methods: Consenting healthy adult females (n=15) & males (n=15) bicycled an ergometer at 50% HRmax for 20 min. EEG was recorded using 10-20 system from mid-frontal (F4 & F3), central (C4 & C3), parietal (P4 & P3), temporal (T4 & T3) & occipital (O2 & O1) regions. Exercise-induced EEG changes were compared between two sexes by Mann Whitney test. EEG power (μV 2 ) is presented as median & interquartile range. Results: In females, as compared to males, resting right side delta, alpha, and beta activities were more in almost all recorded sites [delta: F4= 49.82 (44.23-63.56) vs. 35.5 (32.70-44.44), p < 0.001; etc], [alpha F4: 127.62 (112.89-149.03) vs. 49.36 (46.37-52.98), p < 0.001; etc], [beta F4= 18.96 (15.83-25.38) ？vs. 14.77 (10.34-17.55), p < 0.05; C4= 21.16 (18.4-25.9) vs. 15.48 (9.66-19.40), p < 0.01; etc]. Similarly, females resting right theta activity was more in parietal [P4= 33.04 (25.1-42.41) vs. 22.3 (18.36-34.33), p < 0.05] & occipital [O2= 50.81 (30.64-66.8) vs. 26.85 (22.18-34.42), p < 0.001] regions than in males. They had similar picture on the left side also. The delta values of right alpha power was less in female in frontal [F4= -11.61 (-45.24 -3.64) vs. 9.48 (1.05-16.58), p < 0.01] and central [C4= -72 (-32.98-9.48) vs. 22.69 (13.03-33.05), p < 0.01] regions compared to males. Also, they had less delta values of left central alpha [C3= -8.32 (-32.65-6.1) vs. 16.5 (0.36-36.36), p < 0.01] and temporal beta [T3= -6.29 (-10.09- -1.49) vs. 1.24 (-0.84- 2.8), p < 0.001] power compared to males. Conclusion: At rest females may have high EEG powers in different bands. In response to acute exercise, they respond in reverse way as compared to males. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v6i2.11116 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.6(2) 2015 30-35