The list of useful effects of exercise is time to supplement: scientists from Boston University found that older lovers of walking and jumping can retain memory longer than their inactive contemporaries.
This discovery is reported in the latest issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
The results of a new study conducted by Dr. Scott Hayes, an assistant at the Medical School of Boston University, can help in the global fight against senile diseases such as dementia.
Dr. Hays, deputy director of the Center for Neuroimaging for Veterans in Boston, hopes with simple physical exercises to help the aging population of Western countries. These are millions of people who, because of problems with thinking and memory, often become a burden to relatives and end up days in special institutions.
The team of Dr. Hayes writes that the objective connection between physical activity and intellectual indices of adults is not well understood. To fill the gap in this knowledge, Boston scientists recruited 29 young people aged 18-31 and 31 participants aged 55-82 years, each of whom had to wear ActiGraph, a miniature device that tracks the physical activity of a person, counting the number of perfect steps.
Instead of traditional questionnaires that jeopardize the objectivity of the research, the scientists forced all volunteers to undergo a series of tests to determine the physical form, memory and intelligence. After the tests they were given a task, including the study of figurative and verbal associations.
Hypodinamia badly affects the memory.
It turned out that those elderly people who walk a lot daily on foot are distinguished by a clearer mindset and a good memory compared to their peers who lead a hypodamous way of life.
In particular, such people better remembered what is called this or that subject depicted in the picture - with this in the elderly people there are often problems. Researchers say that this kind of tasks put high demands on the work of the hippocampus - the area of ??the brain that participates in memory, attention and emotions.
It is interesting that young people did not find a connection between the level of physical activity and memory.
Commenting on the results of his research, Dr. Hayes said: "Our work has clearly demonstrated that physical activity positively affects memory in the elderly. This is due to several factors. Everyone knows that physical inactivity is obesity and blockage of blood vessels (. ) The acquired knowledge should motivate older people to move more, preserving their physical form, health and intellect ".
Currently, in the United States, every third elderly person dies with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, and Alzheimer's itself ranks sixth among the causes of death in the country. According to scientists, regular physical activity can save millions of old people from suffering, and the health system - from the enormous costs of treating dementia.
"From formal training programs, you can switch to ordinary walking or climbing stairs. Even the minimal, simplest changes in your way of life are able to launch the very biological mechanisms that protect the brain from premature aging and extinction, "advises us all, Dr. Hayes.
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