Along with better quality sleep, improved weight regulation, increased longevity, and a wide array of other physical and psychological benefits, we can now add another importa benefit to the reasons for exercising.
In a 12-moh clinical trial of 130 healthy adults between the ages of 26 and 58, American researchers found that participas who followed a comprehensive weekly exercise program at the end of the study had brains that showed biological signs of being younger than those in the corol group.
When scieists talk about biological aging, they mean the wear and tear that occurs with age. Although everyone celebrates the same birthday every year, differe parts of the body can wear out at differe rates.
A younger brain poteially means maiaining full cognitive abilities for longer and could also provide greater resistance to diseases such as demeia, although long-term effects were not directly examined in the research.
A simple exercise program can significaly rejuvenate the brain in just 12 mohs, explains Lou Wan, a data scieist at the AdveHealth Research Institute. He added that these changes were not that big, but could be significa in a few decades.
The volueers of the exercise group were asked to follow the weekly guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization. These guidelines include about 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week, meaning any type of activity that causes a noticeable increase in heart rate and breathing rate.
Based on a set of differe biomarkers, brain MRI scans showed that people who followed the exercise program had brains that looked about 0.6 years younger than their chronological age, on average.
In corast, participas who had coinued their normal lives had brains that looked approximately 0.35 years older than their chronological age. According to the research team, this number shows that the difference between the two groups is close to one year.
The next question is why exercise can help the brain stay younger. Previous studies have associated exercise with improved brain function, but despite examining several poteial pathways including cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure, and useful proteins, the researchers in this new study could not determine the exact link between exercise and brain aging.
Lu Wan states that this result was unexpected, as it was expected that improved physical fitness or lower blood pressure could explain the effect, but this was not the case. He adds that exercise may work through additional mechanisms that have yet to be documeed, such as subtle changes in brain structure, inflammation, vascular health, or other molecular factors.
Research has shown that brain health problems in later life can be traced back to multiple factors that started years ago, and it seems that exercise in middle age can have significa positive effects.
Kirk Erickson, a neuroscieist at the AdveHealth Research Institute, explains that many people wonder if there is anything they can do now to protect their brains in the future. According to him, the findings of this research support the idea that 150 minutes a week of moderate to high iensity aerobic activity can help keep the brain biologically younger even in middle age.
This research was published in Journal of Sport and Health Science.
