FRIDAY, May 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Want to give your brain a boost? Go for a swim, take a walk, or spin your partner on the living room floor.
A new study finds that aerobic exercise can improve older adults’ thinking and memory, even if they’re longtime couch potatoes.
This type of exercise increases blood flow to the brain and counters the effects of normal aging, according to the study published online May 13 in the journal Neurology.
“As we all find out eventually, we lose a bit mentally and physically as we age. But even if you start an exercise program later in life, the benefit to your brain may be immense,” said study author Marc Poulin, of the University of Calgary School of Medicine in Canada.
“Sure, aerobic exercise gets blood moving through your body. As our study found, it may also get blood moving to your brain, particularly in areas responsible for verbal fluency and executive functions. Our finding may be important, especially for older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias and brain disease,” Poulin said in a journal news release.
The study included 206 adults, average age 66, with…
This article was sourced from HealthyDay.com.