Did you know light physical activity could keep the brain healthy?
| Apr 23, 2019, 11:16 IST
It's already a known fact that indulging in regular exercise can be of crucial importance for good physical as well as mental health. Keeping your body fit can also help keep your mind fit and fresh. However, new research has now found that there's even more that exercise can do for your brain. As per research, indulging in light physical activities during the day can actually be associated with larger brain volume and better brain health.
The Framingham Heart Study was used as a reference for data wherein it was found that each additional hour spent on light intensity physical activity could amount to as much as 1.1 years less brain ageing. As per the research, it was found that there was a rather favourable association between exercise and reversing brain ageing.
"Every additional hour of light intensity physical activity was associated with higher brain volumes, even among individuals not meeting current physical activity -guidelines. These data are consistent with the notion that potential benefits of physical activity on brain ageing may accrue at a lower, more achievable level of intensity or volume," said Nicole Spartano, the lead author. "We have just begun to uncover the relationship between physical activity and brain health," she added.
Nicole also spoke about how the research needs to be conducted across different races and socio-ethnic groups to be able to truly figure out how physical exercise affects the brains of different people. While they've already made some progress in finding out certain results, they've also found that light physical activity could prevent cognitive decline and dementia. However, it is yet to be found precisely how much exercise is needed to prevent the onset of conditions like dementia.
Apart from this, it was even found that active individuals have lower metabolic and vascular risk factors which can also explain the relationship between exercise and healthy brain ageing. While it is said that some physical activity is better than none, it is also said that more than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous (MV) physical activity per week can lead to multiple health benefits.
Well, if you're someone who's looking to make better lifestyle choices, we suggest you start by inducing exercise into your routine and see how well it'll work for you. Stay tuned for more updates.
The Framingham Heart Study was used as a reference for data wherein it was found that each additional hour spent on light intensity physical activity could amount to as much as 1.1 years less brain ageing. As per the research, it was found that there was a rather favourable association between exercise and reversing brain ageing.
"Every additional hour of light intensity physical activity was associated with higher brain volumes, even among individuals not meeting current physical activity -guidelines. These data are consistent with the notion that potential benefits of physical activity on brain ageing may accrue at a lower, more achievable level of intensity or volume," said Nicole Spartano, the lead author. "We have just begun to uncover the relationship between physical activity and brain health," she added.
Nicole also spoke about how the research needs to be conducted across different races and socio-ethnic groups to be able to truly figure out how physical exercise affects the brains of different people. While they've already made some progress in finding out certain results, they've also found that light physical activity could prevent cognitive decline and dementia. However, it is yet to be found precisely how much exercise is needed to prevent the onset of conditions like dementia.
Apart from this, it was even found that active individuals have lower metabolic and vascular risk factors which can also explain the relationship between exercise and healthy brain ageing. While it is said that some physical activity is better than none, it is also said that more than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous (MV) physical activity per week can lead to multiple health benefits.
Well, if you're someone who's looking to make better lifestyle choices, we suggest you start by inducing exercise into your routine and see how well it'll work for you. Stay tuned for more updates.