Summary: New research shows that even small amounts of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, like brisk walking or jogging, can significantly improve brain health in older adults. Higher-intensity physical activity was linked to better processing speed, working memory, and executive function.
Conversely, lower activity levels were associated with declines in cognitive performance. These findings highlight the power of even minor lifestyle changes to protect and enhance brain health as people age.
Key Facts:
- Brain Boost: Moderate-to-vigorous exercise improves processing speed, working memory, and executive function.
- Small Steps Matter: Even adding just five minutes of higher-intensity exercise shows cognitive benefits.
- Activity Prioritization: How time is spent across the day can directly influence brain health outcomes.
Source: University of South Australia
A brisk walk, a splash of water aerobics, or even a light jog around the block – if your heart rate goes up then so too will your brain health according to new research from the University of South Australia.
Conducted in partnership with the US-based AdventHealth Research Institute, the new study found that staying active through moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is associated with significantly better processing speed, working memory, and executive function in older adults.
Interestingly, the biggest cognitive gains were seen among people who went from doing no moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, to even doing just five minutes, clearly illustrating the power of exercise for the human brain.
Assessing data from 585 older adults (aged 65-80 years) in the USA-based IGNITE trial*, the study examined associations between time spent in sleep, sedentary behaviour, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity across the 24-hr day, and cognitive performance.
Researchers identified a two-way relationship between ‘huff-and-puff’ physical activity and brain health: do more exercise and your brain health improves; but do less and it declines.
UniSA researcher, Dr Maddison Mellow says the study highlights how small changes to your daily activities can have big impacts on your brain health.
“There are three mutually exclusive lifestyle behaviours in the 24-hour day – sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity – and how these interact to influence our health outcomes,” Dr Mellow says.
“For example, we know that being more active can improve our sleep; or having a better night’s sleep could boost our energy levels to perform physical activity the next day. But what we don’t know is the optimal balance of time spent in each of these behaviours to maximise cognitive performance.
“In this study we explored how different uses of time impact your brain. We found that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – that is, activity performed at higher intensities that increases your heart rate and breathing – was related to better cognitive performance.
“Specifically, ‘huff-and-puff’ physical activity (like aerobic exercise) improves processing speed (how fast your brain thinks), executive function (how well you plan, focus, and multitask) and working memory (your ability to store information for short periods of time).
“Importantly, the opposite was also true: lower levels of this higher intensity physical activity were related to poorer performance on these tests.”
The findings were consistent across different genetic and demographic backgrounds. Interestingly, the findings did not extend to episodic memory (the what, where and when details of an event) or visuospatial function outcomes (your ability to recognise places and navigate through spaces).
Co-researcher, Dr Audrey Collins, says understanding the interplay between different activities could empower older people to make positive health changes.
“There are only 24 hours in a day, so every day, we make decisions about how we spend our time. For example, if we sleep for eight hours, then there’s 16 hours remaining for waking behaviours like physical activity or sedentary behaviour; that’s the basic reality,” Dr Collins says.
“Our results show that how we choose to spend our time across the 24-hour day may be differentially related to our brain health.
“Understanding that we need to prioritise physical activity – such as physical activity that gets our heart rates up, according to our findings – is the key.
“With one in six people in the world expected to be 60 years or older by 2030, we need to make sure we are supporting and empowering people to age well.
“In this instance, we hope that knowledge is power: boost your physical activity and boost your brain health to stay fit and well as you age. However, these results are cross-sectional and need to be tested longitudinally and experimentally.”
Note:
* The IGNITE study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA), University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, KS), and Northeastern University (Boston, MA) and involved a large, well-characterised sample of cognitively unimpaired older adults. Participants were, on average, 69.8 years of age, predominantly female (70%), and self-reported as inactive.
About this aging and exercise research news
Author: Annabel Mansfield
Source: University of South Australia
Contact: Annabel Mansfield – University of South Australia
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“24-Hour time use and cognitive performance in late adulthood: results from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study” by Maddison Mellow et al. Age and Aging
Abstract
24-Hour time use and cognitive performance in late adulthood: results from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study
Objective
This cross-sectional study examined associations between 24-hour time-use composition (i.e. sleep, sedentary time, light physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) and cognitive performance and explored whether demographic or genetic factors moderated these relationships.
Methods
This analysis included baseline data from cognitively unimpaired older adults (n = 648) enrolled in the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise study. Time use was measured using wrist-worn triaxial accelerometers.
Cognitive domains were determined using a confirmatory factor analysis from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Linear regression models tested associations between time-use composition and cognitive factors, adjusting for age, sex, education, body mass index, apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele carriage and study site.
Interaction terms evaluated moderation of time use by age, sex, education and APOE4 status. We also examined the theoretical impact of reallocating time between time-use behaviours on cognitive performance using compositional isotemporal substitution methods.
Results
Time-use composition was associated with processing speed (F = 5.16, P = .002), working memory (F = 4.81, P = .003) and executive function/attentional control (F = 7.09, P < .001) but not episodic memory (F = 2.28, P = .078) or visuospatial function (F = 2.26, P = .081).
Post hoc isotemporal substitution analyses found that significant associations were driven by time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), with lesser amounts of MVPA associated with poorer cognitive performance. There was no evidence of moderation by any tested factors.
Conclusions
Increasing or decreasing MVPA, at the expense of time spent in sleep, sedentary behaviour or light physical activity, may be related to individual variation in processing speed, executive function/attentional control and working memory in older adulthood.
