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Everyone in both groups worked three times a week at the start, for about half an hour and under supervision. They then added workouts on their own, until after six months they completed about five workouts most weeks. This program continued for a total of one year. About 20 volunteers dropped out during this time, mostly from the walking group.
Then the volunteers returned to the lab for a repeat of the original tests, and the researchers compared the results. Unsurprisingly, the exercise group was in better shape, with higher aerobic capacity, while the endurance of the stretchers had not budged. The aerobic exercise group also showed much less stiffness in their carotid arteries and, as a result, more blood flow to and through their brain.
Perhaps more importantly, they also performed better than the stretch and tone group on some of the executive function tests, which are thinking skills involved in planning and decision making. These tend to be among the earliest diminishing abilities in dementia.
Interestingly, however, both groups had slightly increased their scores on most of the memory and thinking tests, and roughly to the same extent. Indeed, getting up and moving in any way – and perhaps also interacting socially with people in the lab – seemed to have honed thinking skills and helped to avoid accelerated declines.
Still, researchers believe that over a longer period of time, a brisk walk would lead to greater cognitive gains and less memory decline than a gentle stretch, says Rong Zhang, professor of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. , who oversaw the new study.
“It probably takes longer” than a year for improved cerebral blood flow to translate into improved cognition, he says. He and other researchers are planning larger, more sustainable studies to test this idea, he says. They also hope to study how more or less exercise sessions each week might help the brain, and whether there might be ways to motivate more volunteers to stick to an exercise program.
For now, however, he believes the group’s findings serve as a useful reminder that the movement is changing minds. “Park farther away” when shopping or commuting, he says. “Take the stairs” and try to increase your heart rate when you exercise. This, he says, can help protect your ability to remember and think throughout your life.
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