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Even light exercises can improve the brain activity associated with memory.
As we age, our memory may become less reliable.
Although this is considered an inevitable part of old age, scientists are eager to understand how it could be reduced.
As the population ages, it is more important than ever to understand how to reduce cognitive slowdown.
The hippocampus, which is a brain structure located in the temporal lobe, is of particular interest to researchers trying to understand this problem.
Vital for learning and memory, the hippocampus is particularly sensitive to stress and, as it ages, it is one of the first regions to suffer. In Alzheimer's disease, this deterioration is even more pronounced.
The exercise and the seahorse
In the past, studies have found that exercise can improve some aspects of cognitive ability and improve memory performance. In addition, more physically active adults tend to have an increased volume of hippocampus.
In order to discover why exercise might be beneficial for the hippocampus and memory performance, some scientists have asked if physical activity stimulated the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus ( called neurogenesis).
This process would take time and, therefore, any benefit to brain health would take time to manifest itself.
Recently, a team from the University of California, Irvine and the University of Tsukuba in Japan conducted experiments to determine if exercise could improve memory over a much shorter period of time: minutes rather than days or weeks.
The authors of the study explain that it is possible that the growth of brain cells could be stimulated by exercise, but that a faster mechanism could also be used in parallel.
The authors wanted to map any measurable improvement in memory-based brain activity during the first few minutes following a light exercise. Their findings have been published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Thus, to investigate, 36 healthy young adults performed only 10 minutes of light exercise. The team then used high resolution functional MRI to measure any changes in brain activity.
Instant brain benefits
Brain imaging has shown an improved connectivity between the dentate gyrus, which is part of the hippocampus and that is thought to play a role in creating new episodic memories, and cortical areas. involved in the processing of detailed memory.
In addition, when the researchers tested the participants using a memory recall test, the increased connectivity correlated with an improvement in memory performance.
"What we observed was that these 10-minute exercise periods showed results immediately afterwards. "
Co-project leader Michael Yassa
Yassa says it's "encouraging to see more people follow their exercise habits – for example, by tracking how many steps they take," he says. "Even short breaks during the day can have significant effects on improving memory and cognition."
Future studies
Yassa and his team are eager to continue investigating. Next, they plan to conduct longer-term studies in older adults with an increased risk of cognitive decline.
They want to understand if a regular, brief, light exercise changes the structure and function of the brain over time. He says:
"The hippocampus is essential to creating new memories; it's one of the first brain regions to deteriorate as we get older […] Improve the function of the hippocampus is very promising to improve the memory in the daily settings.
The first step is to find that light exercise could have a measurable impact on the parts of the brain responsible for memory. but then we need to better understand the amount of ideal activity needed to make a real and lasting difference.
As Yassa says, "It is clear that understanding the prescription of exercises that works best in older people is extremely helpful so that we can make recommendations to avoid cognitive decline."
In conclusion, the next time you have misplaced something important, it can be helpful to try 10 minutes of yoga; it certainly will not hurt.
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