A pair of new studies, both appearing in the January 2010 issue of the Archives of Neurology find that exercise improves mild cognitive impairment, and may even help to prevent the decline in the first place.
The research teams found that those who did moderate exercise in midlife (or later) had a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment. What’s more, six months of high intensity aerobic exercise improved the cognitive function in those who already had some thinking impairment.
Mild cognitive impairment is the term your doctor uses for the in-between state of normal changes to thinking, learning and memory that come as we age and dementia.
Almost 15% of those with mild cognitive impairment end up developing dementia each year. In the general population, the number is much lower, a mere 1% to 2% will be diagnosed with dementia.
The U.S. government estimates that 6.8 million people in the U.S. have dementia, and 1.8 million of that number are severely affected.
Other studies have found that almost half of all those 85 years and older have some type of dementia, though this memory and independence robbing condition is not a normal part of the aging process. There are examples of those living into their 90s or even 100s without any decline in functioning.
The first of the two studies on aging involved 1,324 dementia-free subjects who were participating in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.
Subjects filled out a questionnaire on physical exercise and were assessed and then classified as having normal cognition (1,126 of the participants) or mild cognitive impairment (198 subjects). Those who reported they did moderate exercise (swimming, brisk walking, yoga, aerobic or strength training) during midlife were 39% less likely to have mild cognitive impairment.
Those who did moderate exercise later in life were 32% less likely to have this problem.
Exercise might help protect against mild cognitive impairment in a number of different ways – By producing nerve-protecting compounds, by increasing blood flow to the brain, by improving the development (and survival) of neurons as well as the lower risks of disease of the heart or blood vessels.
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Exercise Holds Off Mental Decline Continued…
The second of the studies was smaller, including only 33 adults of an average age of 70 years old who had mild cognitive impairment.
Some of the subjects were assigned to high intensity aerobics for 45 to 60 minutes a day, four days a week. The other group did stretching exercises that kept the heart rate low, also four days each week.
After six months, those who did the high intensity aerobic workouts had improved cognitive function compared to the subjects of the control group.
The helpful effects are more pronounced in women than in men, and experts speculate that this may be due to the difference in the body’s use and production of insulin, glucose and cortisol (a stress hormone) that’s different in men than in women.
“Aerobic exercise is a cost-effective practice that is associated with numerous physical benefits. The results of this study suggest that exercise also provides a cognitive benefit for some adults with mild cognitive impairment,” writes Laura D. Baker, of the University of Washington School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, and colleagues.
Long story short, if you want to stay sharp as you age, get up and get active. It’s never too late.
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