Exercise slows brain ageing
years, regular exercise may be of immense
help, suggests new research.
In a study of older men between ages 64-75
years, the researchers found that the fitter
men performed better mentally than the less
fit men, by using parts of their brains in the
same way as in their youth.
The study led by Hideaki Soya from the
University of Tsukuba in Japan and his
colleagues showed direct relationship between
brain activity, brain function and physical
fitness in this group of older men.
The researchers pointed out that as we age,
we use different parts of our brain compared
to our younger selves.
With tasks involving the temporary storage
and manipulation of memory, young adults
favour the right side of the prefrontal cortex
(PFC), while older adults engage both the
right and left PFC.
In order to examine whether physical fitness
can retain some youthful qualities of the
brain, the researchers aerobic fitness in 60
older men.
The men, whose physical fitness was found to
vary widely, then performed a test to measure
their selective attention, executive function
and reaction time.
This well-known ‘color-word matching Stroop
test’ involved showing the men words
meaning color, such as blue, green, red, but
asking them to name the color of the letters
rather than read the word itself.
Analysis of the relationship between brain
activity and Stroop reaction time revealed
that those men that favoured the left side of
the PFC while performing the Stroop test had
faster reaction times.
This indicated that older adults who use the
more youth-like, task-related side of the brain
perform better in this test.
The researchers also found that fitter men had
shorter reaction times.
Based on these findings, the researchers
correctly predicted that higher aerobic fitness
would be associated with higher left-PFC
activity.
In other words, fitter men tend to use the
more youth-like side of their brains, the
findings showed.
The study appeared in the journal
NeuroImage.