Science has taken us all to some amazing places over the years, and yet relatively little is known about the brain, and how it ages. While this most vital three-pound organ isn't technically a muscle, exercise has been shown to benefit both memory and other cognitive skills according to some new research on the . What's more, the exercise doesn't have to be something rigorous.
Experts do know that during late adulthood a part of the brain that's involved in memory, known as the hippocampus, begins to get smaller. Earlier work has shown that after a year of regular workouts this region grew in older adults. And the growth was joined with better memory.
In the latest work, 68 inactive middle aged subjects (men and women aged 40 to 56) were randomly assigned to either cycling or a stretching/coordination routine to be done for 2 hours a week for a period of 6 months, while 18 non active adults were used as a control group.
At the start of the research all the subjects underwent a heart test as well as tests measuring memory and other cognitive skills.
The stretching/coordination program started with a warm up, followed by work to make the major muscle groups of the body stronger. Coordination exercises were complex movements of both arms and legs to improve balance and the session ended with relaxation techniques.
Those assigned to cycling were told to work at the level of their target heart rate for around 45 minutes, ending up in a cool down. The fitness test from the start of the study gave them the target heart rate to use.
The exercisers were found to have improvements in both memory and other cognitive skills according to researchers.
The cyclists improved heart fitness by 15% while the inactive and stretching/coordination group had no discernible change in fitness level. But both exercising groups had improved performance on memory tests and learning than did the inactive group. The increase in the test scores was tied to the improvements in fitness.
A surprise? The stretching group did better on an attention test compared to the group that did the cycling. It was a paper based exam where you had to locate and mark specific letters as quickly as possible.
A strength of the study is how long the training went on for, subjects did (6 months), along with the emphasis on middle aged adults who often have concerns about memory issues. The take home message from the research is that being active is something is good for the brain and is something we can do to help ourselves stay sharp.
The study findings support earlier work which found inactive subjects who get active can help increase the blood flow to their brains, and they are then able to score higher on memory tests.
If you haven't been active in a while, talk with your healthcare team before you begin any kind of exercise program. They'll be able to give you guidance and advice on what activity is best for you. Once you start, slow and steady is the best approach - in a matter of weeks you'll be amazed at how far you've come, and the .
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