Older Adults Can Improve Brain Function by Raising Fitness Level – University of Kansas

Science Daily reported that a professor of neurology at KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center, led a six-month trial conducted with healthy adults ages 65 and older who showed no signs of cognitive decline.

The randomized controlled trial attempted to determine the ideal amount of exercise necessary to achieve benefits to the brain.

Before proceeding, I would like to add that I am now in my eleventh year of writing this blog. To continue that long at a healthy pace (+3500 posts) you have to be motivated and get positive feedback.

Reading about this new study on exercise benefiting the brain was extraordinarily positive feedback. I have written about the benefits of exercise and the brain for several years. You can check out my Page – Important Facts About Your Brain (and Exercise) for more details. Suffice it to say that the KU report was most welcome.

The KU Medical Center press release continued:

“The randomized controlled trial attempted to determine the ideal amount of exercise necessary to achieve benefits to the brain. Trial participants were placed in a control group that did not have monitored exercise, or they were put into one of three other groups. One group moderately exercised for the recommended amount of 150 minutes per week, a second exercised for 75 minutes per week, and a third group exercised for 225 minutes per week.

“All groups who exercised saw some benefit, and those who exercised more saw more benefits, particularly in improved visual-spatial processing — the ability to perceive where objects are in space and how far apart they are from each other. Participants who exercised also showed an increase in their overall attention levels and ability to focus.

” ‘Basically, the more exercise you did, the more benefit to the brain you saw,” Burns said. “Any aerobic exercise was good, and more is better.”
The research indicated that the intensity of the exercise appeared to matter more than the duration.

“For improved brain function, the results suggest that it’s not enough just to exercise more,” said Eric Vidoni, PT, Ph.D., research associate professor of neurology at KU Medical Center and a lead author of the journal article. “You have to do it in a way that bumps up your overall fitness level.’”

“…Scientists at the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center have focused on the relationship between exercise and brain metabolism for years and are conducting a number of research studies on how exercise may help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.”

Remember, eat less; move more; live longer.

It works.

Tony