If you don’t already have some kind of aerobic exercise program, it may be time to start.
One study has found that having a long-term program involving cardio could help prevent cognitive degeneration in old age.
The authors of the study wrote, “Aging is frequently accompanies with frailty and cognitive decline. In recent years, increasing evidence has linked physical inactivity with the development of dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.
This was also a huge study of cognitive decline. In order to find out why exercise combats cognitive decline, they used an animal study which tool mice with ages equivalent to a middle-aged human (12 months), and gave them a running wheel and checked their brains when they were an age equivalent to 60 in humans.
The mice ran two miles per night, and scientists observed that mice had the motivation and were able to perform tasks that mice normally can’t do at that age.
It also lowered age-related pericyte loss in the brain.
This is important, since pericytes compose blood vessels. They also help your cardiovascular system, and help the right amount of blood get to your brain.
Of course, this is an animal study, so we won’t really know the effects in humans until further studies are done. But the authors are convinced it’s an important study.
“More than five million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and this is expected to exceed 10 million in the next 20 years. In order to prevent and treat age-related neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s, it is essential to better understand the factors that contribute to aging-induced susceptibiliry.”
So if you’re scared you may be prone to Alzheimer’s, it’s time to hit that elliptical.
