New Study: Exercise Protects Aging Brains

Who would have guessed?

A systematic review of 198 clinical trials suggested that exercising for 52 hours over a six-month period was an optimal dose for cognitive improvement in older adults.

That is about a one-hour commitment three times a week, according to Joyce Gomes-Osman, PT, Ph.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues writing in Neurology: Clinical Practice. The study was titled: “Exercise for cognitive brain health in aging: A systematic review for an evaluation of dose.”

“The constructs of cognition that were most amenable to exercise were processing speed and executive function,” Gomes-Osman said. “This is an encouraging result because those two constructs are among the first that start to go with the aging process. This is evidence that you can actually turn back the clock of aging in your brain by adopting a regular exercise regimen.”

Statistical associations did not hold for memory improvement, noted Art Kramer, Ph.D., of Northeastern University in Boston, according to Gomes-Osman. “Despite the fact that animal studies have found robust memory benefits from exercise, memory benefits were not consistently observed in the human studies that were reviewed.”

As MedPage Today contributing writer Judy George explained, “Gomes-Osman’s group searched medical databases in December 2016 for randomized controlled trials that tested the effect of exercise on cognition. After a review of 4,612 relevant studies, they included 98 trials with a total of 11,061 participants in their review. Participants had an average age of 73 and 67.58% were female. Of the total sample, 59.41% of participants were classified as older healthy adults, 25.74% had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 14.85% had dementia.”

Aerobic exercise, strength training, mind-body exercises like yoga and tai-chi, and combinations of exercises all were linked to improved cognitive skills in both healthy individuals and those with MCI, according to the report. Only the total length of time over a 6-month period was linked to improved cognitive skills, not weekly exercise minutes.

“Although half of the exercise in the studies we assessed was in support of aerobic exercise, it doesn’t mean that aerobic exercise necessarily was more effective,” said Gomes-Osman. “It just means that more trials have actually studied aerobic exercise.”