Exercising Now Can Help Ensure a More Sound Mind for the Future
New research shows that exercise, which improves brain health, could be the key to preventing diseases such as dementia.
Exercise is repeatedly cited as one of, if not the best, ways to stay healthy in the short-term and especially the long-term. Exercise benefits numerous things including your cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal health and digestive health. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits that is overlooked, however, is the huge short-term and long-term benefit that exercise has for our neurological health. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have produced more evidence reinforcing the idea that exercise has long term neurological benefits from a new study that compared study participants' fitness levels against the health of white matter in their brains.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, focused on the white matter of the brains of participants who were older and at high risk of dementia. The researchers determined participants' fitness levels by objectively measuring cardio-respiratory fitness through maximal oxygen uptake, through brain imaging to measure the functionality of the participants' white brain matter, and through memory and cognitive tests. The study concluded that those who had a higher level of fitness in regards to maximal oxygen uptake, had a healthier white brain matter and scored better on cognitive tests. Overall the message remains the same: Exercise regularly. However, many questions still loom after this study, including when is it too late to start exercising to reap the neurological rewards? When is the optimal time to begin exercising to ensure neurological fitness? While these questions remain to be answered, we can at least be sure that exercise provides multiple benefits regardless of timing.
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