POSSITIVE EFFECTS OF CONTINUOUS PRACTICE OF KARATE IN COGNITIVE CAPACITY ASSOCITATED TO THE AGE

Aging is associated to a decrease of people's cognitive abilities, and, in many cases, it also comes together with a decrease of the quality of life. The main aim of this study is to identify the effects that adapted and continuous karate training may have in the cognitive abilities of people over 40 years old. Therefore, an incidental sample of 275 people was taken. A descriptive and correlational empirical work was carried out. The analyzed variable was the anticipation speed, which was estimated through the result obtained in the Kelvin Test (KCC). Age, gender and continuous Karate training were the controlled variables. Continuous and adapted karate training had positive effects in anticipation speed amongst people over 40 years old, which implies an improvement in attention and other cognitive abilities. Regarding people who not train Karate, there are significant differences between people under and over 40 years old. Therefore, Karate adapted training may be an interesting option to maintain the cognitive abilities during the aging processes.