Plenty of research has shown that exercise is good for brain health. Among these is a 5-year study that found you can sharpen your memory and lower your risk of dementia by becoming physically fit. The best part is, it found you can start at any age and reap the benefits! What’s more, the researchers did a follow-up study to see if the type of exercise makes a difference and they found that high-level endurance training was most beneficial, but moderate levels worked too. The study has been published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
It’s no new news that people who exercise regularly tend to perform better on memory and critical thinking tests than people who are out of shape. There have even been studies that link fitness with a lowered risk of developing dementia. But none of these studies focused on age or if some types of training may be more beneficial than others at protecting or even enhancing our memory.
This is why the researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, focused on that very issue. They wanted to know if there was a point in life (after a certain age) when it was too late to improve brain health with physical activity.
The team, led by Jennifer Heisz, conducted an experiment that involved 64 sedentary adults older than 60. There were participants as old as 88 involved in this experiment. Everyone was divided into three groups, each assigned with either low, moderate, or high-level intensity training. The program went on for 12 weeks. Each participant’s physical fitness and cognitive performance was assessed before and after the training period.
The results showed that adults who pushed through 12 weeks of high-intensity interval training, regardless of age, improved their performance on the memory test by 30% compared with those who did even a moderate exercise routine. The control group who did not train had participants who showed measurable declines in both memory and physical fitness. Therefore, staying active is necessary to keep the brain health you have already, not just to boost your performance.
Louis Bherer, a researcher who studies exercise and brain health at the University of Montreal, said:
The name of the game is to sustain it. As soon as you stop, you start losing the benefits.
Heisz explains that adding intensity just means you have to sweat and raise your heartbeat. For example, picking a hilly path for a daily walk or picking up the pace to a run between light posts while jogging. Furthermore, since there is no confirmed “best” form of exercise, the researchers recommend mixing it up, but most importantly, have fun with it so you continue to do it! In the end, “the positive message from this study,” Heisz said, “is that it is never too late to start.”
