Brisk walking is good for aging brain

Brisk walking improves brain health and speeds up the minds of older people with progressive memory loss, according to the results of a new study examining the benefits of exercise in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Older people with early signs of memory loss have been shown to increase their cognitive scores after starting to walk frequently. These walks also improved blood flow to their brain. Cognitive improvements were subtle but consistent, the study concluded, and they could be beneficial not only for the elderly, but for anyone who has trouble retaining information in their memory.

Most of us, as we age, will find that our ability to remember and think will diminish over time. It’s normal although it doesn’t stop being a boring thing. If the memory loss worsens, a mild cognitive impairment, which is already a major problem that affects not only those who suffer from it but also those around them. A mild cognitive impairment is not dementia, But those who do have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future.

Scientists have yet to identify the underlying causes of mild cognitive impairment, but there is evidence that changes in blood flow to the brain can be an important factor. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to brain cells; But if this flow is interrupted, neurons are the first to suffer the consequences.

Unfortunately, many people will experience a decrease in blood flow to the brain as they age and your arteries harden and your heart weakens.

The good news is that exercise can increase blood flow to the brain, even when people who exercise are not moving. A 2013 neurological study found that the brains of physically active older men had much better blood saturation than sedentary ones, even when everyone was resting quietly.

However, these studies generally focused on people whose brains and cognition were relatively normal. It is much less known whether these same positive effects on blood flow occur in people who begin to experience more severe memory loss.

In the new study, which was published this month in the Alzheimer’s Disease Journal, Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Southwestern Medical Center and other institutions examined a group of 70 sedentary men and women, aged 55 and older, and were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

They first checked his current health, cognitive function and aerobic capacity. Then, using advanced ultrasound and other techniques, measured the stiffness of each of the carotid arteries, which carries blood to the brain.

Finally, the volunteers were divided into two groups. The former did a program of light stretching and toning exercises, but the latter began aerobic exercises, mainly by walking on treadmills and then after a few weeks, each alone outside the laboratory. The more athletic were asked to keep their efforts vigorous, so that their heart rate and breathing increased significantly. (They could swim, cycle, or even dance if they wanted to, but they all had to walk.)

The first control group kept their heart rate low.

At first, both groups exercised three times a week, for about half an hour and under supervision. They then added sessions on their own, and in six months they were already completing about five workouts. This program continued for a year and about 20 volunteers dropped out of the trial, most were from the marching group.

The volunteers returned to the lab to repeat the original tests and the researchers compared the results. Unsurprisingly, the second group were fitter, with greater aerobic capacity. They also showed much less stiffness in their carotid arteries and, as a result, un increased blood flow to and through their brain.

Perhaps most relevant, they also performed better than the stretch and tone group on some of the tests. executive function and other thinking skills involved in planning and decision making.

However, it is interesting to note that both groups slightly increased their scores on most of the memory and thinking tests, and almost to the same extent. Indeed, getting up and moving in any way, and perhaps also interacting socially with the people in the lab, seemed to have honed thinking skills and helped avoid accelerating declines.

Yet researchers believe that over a longer period of time, a brisk walk would lead to more cognitive gains and less memory impairment only gentle stretching, according to Rong Zhang, professor of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who oversaw the new study.

“More is probably needed ” one year for cerebral blood flow to translate into cognitive improvement, he said. He and other researchers are developing larger, more sustainable studies to test this hypothesis.

“Park the car further away“Next time I go shopping he recommended. “Go upstairs“And try to increase your heart rate when you exercise. Do it, he explained, it can help to maintain and not lose your cognitive abilities.

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