Exercise Improves Brain Function
The more you move the better you will think.
Scientists at the University of South Australia found that as long as your heart rate is going up, so too will your brain health.
by Staff Reports
Aerobic exercise can take many forms and the benefits to the body can vary based on what you do, but new research shows it all helps the brain. Scientists at the University of South Australia found that as long as your heart rate is going up, so too will your brain health.
The study showed that staying active through moderate-to-vigorous physical activity impacted the brain by displaying significantly better processing speeds, working memory and executive function in older adults.
The biggest gains were seen by those who started with a baseline of no moderate-to-vigorous exercise. Even just five minutes a day were enough to make a difference, which shows just how powerful exercise is when it comes to the human brain.
Data from 585 older adults, those between the ages of 65-80, was examined for an association between time spent in sleep, sedentary behavior, light physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous activity and cognitive performance over the course of a 24-hour day.
"There are three mutually exclusive lifestyle behaviors in the 24-hour day—sleep, sedentary behavior and physical activity—and how these interact to influence our health outcomes," Dr. Maddison Mellow said. "For example, we know that being more active can improve our sleep; or having a better night's sleep could boost our energy levels to perform physical activity the next day. But what we don't know is the optimal balance of time spent in each of these behaviors to maximize cognitive performance.
"In this study we explored how different uses of time impact your brain," she added. "We found that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity—that is, activity performed at higher intensities that increases your heart rate and breathing—was related to better cognitive performance.
"Specifically, 'huff-and-puff' physical activity (like aerobic exercise) improves processing speed (how fast your brain thinks), executive function (how well you plan, focus, and multitask) and working memory (your ability to store information for short periods of time)."
It shows it doesn't matter if you are walking, biking, jogging or swimming, when you are "huffing and puffing," your brain is benefiting. And the more you do, the better it is. The converse is also true. If you are not exercising, your brain will not work as well.
But the findings show that exercise in the case of this study did not impact episodic memory, which is the "what, where and when" details of an event, or visuospatial function outcomes, which relates to the ability to recognize places and navigate through spaces.
"There are only 24 hours in a day, so every day, we make decisions about how we spend our time. For example, if we sleep for eight hours, then there's 16 hours remaining for waking behaviors like physical activity or sedentary behavior; that's the basic reality," Dr. Audrey Collins said. "Our results show that how we choose to spend our time across the 24-hour day may be differentially related to our brain health. Understanding that we need to prioritize physical activity—such as physical activity that gets our heart rates up, according to our findings—is the key."