Exercise 'can reverse age related brain decline'

Regular exercise can reverse the decline in brain power caused by ageing and Alzheimer's disease, according to a report published today.

The research found that speed and sharpness of thought, as well as the actual size of brain tissue, was increased by aerobic exercise.

The author, cognitive neuroscientist Professor Art Kramer of the US Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, USA, cited previous research showing that six months of exercise reversed age related decline.

The article, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that a deterioration in the brain's white and grey matter as people age causes cognitive decline.

Professor Kramer wrote: "Tissue deterioration is often accompanied by decline in cognitive function, with the greatest deficits occurring on measures of executive control such as task co-ordination, planning, goal maintenance, working memory, and task switching. However, it is these executive control processes that appear to be the most amenable to an aerobic exercise intervention."

He found that six months of aerobic exercise reversed age related decline, and the brains of older adults retained the capacity to grow and develop, known as plasticity.

Physically fitter adults have less evidence of a deterioration in grey matter than their less physically fit contemporaries, the report stated.

Professor Kramer added: "The effect of aerobic exercise training on cognitive function also seems to extend to older adults with dementia."

He concluded: "We can safely argue that an active lifestyle with moderate amounts of aerobic activity will likely improve cognitive and brain function, and reverse the neural decay frequently observed in older adults.”

(Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine: Mental Health Foundation UK: October 2008)