Good news! Do more exercise!
"An Australian longitudinal study has found high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improves brain function in older adults, for up to 5 years. ..."
From the abstract:
"Therefore, to address these shortcomings, we conducted a randomized control study to investigate the effect of exercise in the healthy elderly. Our primary objective was to measure changes in cognitive function following exercise. This was examined using a longitudinal approach where we took advantage of electronic cognitive testing as described below. ... To do this, we performed a multimodal, randomized 6-month exercise intervention with increasing doses of exercise comprising an active control group (low intensity training- LIT), a MIT group and a high intensity interval training (HIIT) group. Participants exercised three times a week under constant supervision by qualified exercise physiologists to ensure that personalized target heart rates (HR) were reached and maintained during the exercise sessions. ...
We found that:
- Hippocampal-dependent cognition improved significantly in the HIIT group after 6 months of exercise and that the improvement was maintained for up to 5 years from the initiation of the exercise intervention.
- In the LIT and MIT groups, hippocampal-dependent cognition was maintained during the exercise intervention and showed no age-related decline compared with baseline performance at the later time points.
- HIIT abrogated the age-associated decreases in brain volume observed in the LIT and MIT groups.
- Significant increases in functional connectivity occurred between multiple key resting-state network circuits following 6 months of HIIT.
- An increase in initial exercise-mediated cortisol and BDNF levels predicted cognitive improvement in HIIT participants.
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