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Many studies have shown that aerobics can improve cognition in the elderly, but a new small study found that intense physical exercise also improves the thinking skills of younger adults.
After 6 months of aerobics training, adults aged 20 to 67 experienced an improvement in executive functions – cognitive processes important for reasoning, planning and problem solving – and an increase in gray matter. in the brain region, an important material for these functions, according to Reuters.
The study group of the Journal of Neurology indicated that the comparison group, which had only undergone stretching exercises during the same period, had not obtained the same advantages.
"People think that mental decline occurs later in life," says Yakov Stern, a neuroscientist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "But even at age 30, you need help." He said.
"Many studies show a decline in these jobs from the 1920s, so the message of this study is that aerobics exercises are really very important," he said.
In the absence of such studies on young adults and middle-aged adults, Stern and his colleagues used 132 volunteers aged 20 or older to participate in an experiment to examine the effects of HIV / AIDS. Exercise on cognition and brain structure. Study
At the beginning of the experiment, volunteers were evaluated for executive functions, transient memory, mental processing speed, language skills, and concentration, then randomized into two groups. one of the aerobic exercises and the other.
At the end of the study period, the longitudinal training group had not seen any significant increase in cognitive abilities, while all ages in the exercise group had Aerobics experienced a significant increase in mental function – although older participants showed greater improvement than younger participants.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) also showed an increase in the frontal cortex thickness of those who exercised an "aerobic activity" at the end of the study, which lasted 24 weeks.
Kirk Eriksson, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, said the new study confirmed that exercise was "a very promising way of influencing cognitive function."
Eriksson said the study "suggests that physical activity is a powerful drug to promote brain health and cognitive health throughout life."
Source: Reuters
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