Longevity Bloomington Newsletter # 12 - The Effects of Exercise on Your Brain & Memory

Nov 27, 2022

By now, most of you know that exercise has a significant positive impact on almost every part of the body. A body region that most people do not think of as benefiting from exercise is the brain!

Before we discuss the impact that exercise has on the brain, a very brief anatomy lesson is in order. The hippocampus (red structures in image below) is a curved structure located deep in the brain that plays a major role in learning and memory. Damage to the hippocampus makes it much harder for someone to form new memories or learn new information. Cells in the hippocampus are often the first to be damaged in disease states such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. The hippocampus shrinks in late adulthood, which could lead to impaired memory and increased risk for dementia. Luckily, there is something you can do to reduce this risk.

source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Hippocampus.gif

What does the research say about the effect of exercise on the aging brain?

There is a large body of evidence supporting the use of exercise to improve cognitive function in aging humans.

source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21282661/

A 2011 study (Erickson et. al) randomly assigned 120 adults (average age = 67) to an aerobic walking group or a control group. The walking group started by walking for 10 minutes and increased walking duration weekly by 5-minute increments until a duration of 40 minutes was achieved at week seven. They remained at 40 minutes for the remainder of the one year program.

What did they find? The aerobic walking group increased the size of their hippocampus by 2%. This is equal to reversing age-related brain loss by 1 to 2 years! THEIR BRAINS LITERALLY GOT BIGGER! BY WALKING! And importantly, their brains got bigger in the area where memories form (hippocampus)!

From the paper: “we demonstrate that loss of hippocampal volume in late adulthood is not inevitable and can be reversed with moderate-intensity exercise. In sum, we found that the hippocampus remains plastic (can be changed) in late adulthood and that 1 year of aerobic exercise was sufficient for enhancing volume. Increased hippocampal volume translates to improved memory function. These results clearly indicate that aerobic exercise is neuroprotective and that starting an exercise regimen later in life is not futile for either enhancing cognition or augmenting brain volume.”

source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17167157/

An additional study in The Journals of Gerontology (Colcombe, 2006) randomly assigned 59 adults (aged 60-79) to an aerobic fitness or control group. The aerobic fitness group initially began exercising at 40-50% of their heart rate reserve and then gradually increased to 60-70% over the course of the 6 month trial. They exercised three times per week.

What were the results for the aerobic group on brain size and function? The aerobic exercise group experienced significant increases in brain size in the very regions that are often reported to show substantial age-related deterioration! The areas of the brain that were enhanced the most with aerobic exercise play a central role in everyday functioning.

From the paper: “These results suggest that cardiovascular fitness is associated with the sparing of brain tissue in aging humans. Furthermore, these results suggest a strong biological basis for the role of aerobic fitness in maintaining and enhancing central nervous system health and cognitive functioning in older adults. Our results suggest that brain volume loss is not an inevitable effect of advancing age and that relatively minor interventions can go a long way in offsetting and minimizing brain volume loss.”

We are excited to announce the addition of a Longevity Bloomington yoga class beginning January 9th, 2023! The class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:00 PM at Full House Fitness. The class is open to any adult 50 years or older. No prior yoga experience is required. You do not need to be a current participant in the Longevity Bloomington functional fitness class to join the yoga class.

The class will be led by Patricia Pauly. Patricia has been teaching yoga for six years in a variety of settings. She holds a 500-hour advanced training certification in yoga teaching and has worked extensively with students over 50. Her classes are designed to accommodate all fitness levels and those with no prior yoga experience. She has worked with students who have a wide variety of health and orthopedic conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, hip and knee replacements, and many others.

What does the research say about yoga?

source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6451238/

We are adding a yoga class because the research has shown that it can have a significant positive effect on both mental and physical health. A 2019 research review (see above) found that yoga can significantly improve balance, flexibility, strength, depression, sleep quality and vitality in adults 50+.

Contact me if you are interested in joining the class. Please share this information if you know someone that may benefit from the class!