Chances are that you’ve watched an elder grow older and start to lose some of their memory and other brain functions. This happens to many human beings as they get older. The brain simply gets too tired to continue functioning as quickly as it once did.
With more information out there about brain health and how our brains change in old age, it’s no wonder more people are looking for ways to help their brain later on. We recently learned that extra exercise in midlife can help your brain later on.
Today we’re going to share some of the ways extra exercise now can help positively impact your future brain function. We hope that this information inspires you to start taking care of your physical and mental health now so that you don’t have to suffer as much when you get older.
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The journal Neurology published a study that found that people who partook in vigorous exercise activities during their midlife ended up reducing their risks of developing brain damage 25 years later. Exercises like bicycling, walking, and running are the three main options to add to your daily exercise routine during midlife to help reduce the risk of elder brain damage.
Some experts will cite that the studies conducted regarding this topic have resulted in mixed results. You can find experts that will say there’s not enough conclusive evidence that extra exercise in midlife will help your brain later on, but we feel pretty confident in saying that any exercise in life will help improve your overall physical and mental health.
Those who conducted the study to show that extra exercise during midlife led to better brain health and a reduced risk of dementia studied over 1,000 patients who underwent an MRI later in life. These MRI results showed that the brain was functioning healthier than it was in comparison to elders who didn’t do extra exercise during midlife.
What part of the brain does exercise improve?
Aerobic exercise like walking, jogging, and running can help improve the hippocampus part of your brain. This part of your brain is liked to memory and learning. Memory is what fades when our elders grow older, as you’ve probably seen with your grandparents and perhaps parents.
Our eldest age and their brain can’t recall memories or even the faces of loved ones as easily as it once did. This exercise such as running, walking, or bicycling for just an hour and 15 minutes every day during midlife will help improve the learning and memory part of your brain so that you don’t have to worry as much about brain health in your elder years.