What we have here is apples being compared to carrots. I think you're confusing cognitive function
with motivation/competitive desire. Moreover, you can neither draw conclusions about function in
young people from research on athletes, nor can you draw any hypotheses based on the fact that young
have difficulty concentrating.
The problem here is that you're trying to compare old people who perform moderate exercise to young,
highly trained athletes who, it could be argued, exercise too much to begin with. While the research
appears to be lacking in the area (I ran a free medline search), I would argue that long term
training (young athlete) has no effect, or perhaps a positive effect if you tested the individual in
a well rested state.
In my search, though, I did learn that preliminary longitudinal studies in dicate that heavy
marijuana use has no long-term cognitive effects. See, I found it here:
http://intapp.medscape.com/-
px/medlineapp/getdoc?ord=16&searchid=2&have_local_holdings_file=1&local_journals_only=0&searchstrin-
g=increased+fitness+helps+cognitive+function+in+younger+people
pedalchick <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> Somebody should do a peer-reviewed study on athletes to see if increased fitness helps cognitive
> function in younger people. Although, through anecdotal evidence in this forum, I would postulate
> that the opposite is true...
>
>
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/17/fit.thinking.ap/index.htmlhttp://w-
> ww.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/17/fit.thinking.ap/index.html
>
>
>
> --
