Senior Citizens
Preserve Their Brain Size and Memory by Walking Regularly
Study author wants
more emphasis on physical exercise for older people to prevent dementia
Oct. 20, 2010
There is new evidence that senior citizens can preserve the size of
their brain and their memory into old age by walking regularly at least
six miles per week. The study was supported by the National Institute on
Aging.
Brain size
shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems. Our results
should encourage well-designed trials of physical exercise in older
adults as a promising approach for preventing dementia and
Alzheimers disease, said study author Kirk I. Erickson, PhD, with
the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.
For the study,
299 dementia-free people with an average age 78 recorded the number of
blocks they walked per week. Then nine years later, scientists took
brain scans of the participants to measure their brain size.
After four
more years, the participants were tested to see if they had developed
cognitive impairment or dementia.
The study found
that people who walked at least 72 blocks per week, or roughly six to
nine miles, had greater gray matter volume than people who didnt walk
as much, when measured at the nine-year time point after their recorded
activity.
Walking more
than 72 blocks did not appear to increase gray matter volume any
further.
By four years
later, 116 of the participants, or 40 percent, had developed cognitive
impairment or dementia. The researchers found that those who walked the
most cut their risk of developing memory problems in half.
If regular
exercise in midlife could improve brain health and improve thinking and
memory in later life, it would be one more reason to make regular
exercise in people of all ages a public health imperative, said
Erickson.
Oct. 20, 2010
There is new evidence that senior citizens can preserve the size of
their brain and their memory into old age by walking regularly at least
six miles per week. The study was supported by the National Institute on
Aging. 
