Clinical Research Directory

Aerobic exercise training will be conducted twice per week, over a period of 6 weeks, supervised by a well-trained facilitator. Each 45-minute session consists of a warm-up (10 minutes), treadmill walking (15 minutes), stationary bike cycling (15 minutes), and cool-down stretching (5 minutes). Heart rate will be monitored throughout training by a wearable device, and 60% of the maximum heart rate (roughly calculated by 220-age) should be maintained for at least 20 minutes during each session. Participants may stop exercising at any time if they feel uncomfortable.

Active tDCS will be applied using a wearable stimulator (Liftid) at a constant stimulation intensity of 1.2 mA for 20 minutes. The device has been designed for anodal stimulation targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using the F3 (anode) to F4 (cathode) montages.

Sham tDCS will be performed using the same device but without stimulation. During the aerobic exercise training, all participants will wear the device, and a facilitator will turn on the stimulation for participants receiving a-tDCS+AE intervention, and pretend to turn on the stimulation for participants receiving s-tDCS+AE intervention after the first 10-minute warm-up section.