Regular exercise indisputably helps people lead healthier lives during their adulthood right through to their old age and now a new research is suggesting that beyond the physical benefits of workout, older adults can also gain mentally through good old-fashioned aerobic exercise – walking.
Researchers at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and University of British Columbia have suggested that walking may be more potent than any pill to reduce older adults’ risk of cognitive decline due to mini-strokes.
Researchers have suggested that reducing heart health risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol related to cerebrovascular disease, may reduce dementia risk, and possibly even slow down the progression of cognitive decline caused by mini-strokes, also known as vascular cognitive impairment or VCI. Population studies suggest that silent mini-strokes are common, even among middle-aged adults.
This particular thing motivated scientists to look into aerobic exercises including running and brisk walking as possible means to reduce the risk of vascular cognitive impairment, said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience UBC and researcher at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.
Previous studies have established the potential of aerobic exercise as a good strategy against heart health risk factors as well as improvement to brain structure and function, but there have been no intervention studies to specifically examine the usefulness of aerobic training in reducing the progression of VCI due to mini-strokes, the researchers added.
The latest research about the potential of aerobic exercises as reducers of risk of cognitive decline was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2015 by Liu-Ambrose and colleagues.
In their six month study of 71 adults aged 56 to 96 with confirmed cases of mild VCI, participants were assigned to two groups: one that did supervised aerobic exercise three times per week for 60 minutes with certified fitness instructors, and the other that received standard care plus an education seminar on nutrition once per month.
All completed a memory and thinking test at the beginning and end of the study. Sixty-two of the 71 participants completed the full six-month study.
The researchers found that study participants who took the aerobics classes improved their cognitive function significantly, including memory and selective attention, compared to the participants who received standard care. In addition, functional brain scans acquired before and after the six-month study showed that the brains of study participants became more efficient with aerobic exercise training. Aerobic training also significantly reduced body mass index and increased functional capacity.
The study builds on findings by Liu-Ambrose in 2010 and 2012 that resistance training in particular can reverse cognitive decline in older women. In 2014, research by Liu-Ambrose also found that aerobic training twice per week, and with gradual progression, led to significant increases to the brain’s hippocampal volume, essentially reversing the pattern of cognitive decline commonly seen with aging and dementia.
“While these promising results need to be replicated in larger and more diverse populations, the fact that aerobic exercise can improve cognitive function in VCI means that people with the condition have hope there may soon be a proven tool they can use to prolong their independence and improve their quality of life,” said Liu-Ambrose. “We think this is exciting because exercise is a strategy that can be inexpensively delivered at the population level.”
