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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
Senior Citizens Less Likely to Get Alzheimer's with
Regular Exercise
Vigorous training works better to halt aging than
moderate levels
 January 29, 2007 – Fitness training – an increased
level of exercise - may improve some mental processes even more than
moderate activity, say the authors of the review of exercise and its
effect on brain functioning in human and animal populations. They also
found that physical exercise may slow aging’s effects and help people
maintain cognitive abilities well into older age.
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Senior Citizen Fitness & Exercise |
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Based on the review of the epidemiological
literature, the authors found a significant relationship between
physical activity and later cognitive function and decreased occurrence
of dementia. And the benefits may last several decades.
In a few of the studies that examined men and women
over 65 years old, the findings showed that those who exercised for at
least 15-30 minutes at a time three times a week were less likely to
develop Alzheimer’s Disease, even if they were genetically predisposed
to the disease.
Animals seem to benefit from exercise too and
perform spatial tasks better when they are active, according to the
review presented at last year's 114th Annual Convention of the American
Psychological Association (APA).
Varying opinions still exist on the benefits of
exercise and activity, said authors Arthur F. Kramer, PhD, Kirk I.
Erickson, PhD and Stanley J. Colcombe of the University of Illinois at
Urbana – Champaign, “but our review of the last 40 years of research
does offer evidence that physical exercise can have a positive influence
on cognitive and brain functions in older animal and human subjects.”
Different methodologies were examined to
comprehensively study what effects exercise can have.
The researchers first examined the epidemiological
literature of diseases to determine whether exercise and physical
activity can at certain points in a person’s lifetime improve cognitive
ability and decrease the likelihood of age-related neurological
diseases, like Alzheimer’s.
The authors then reviewed longitudinal randomized
trial studies to see if specific fitness training had an affect on
cognition and brain function in older adults.
Finally, animal studies were examined to understand
the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for exercise effects
on the brain as well as on learning and memory.
By examining the human intervention studies, a
relationship was also found between fitness training and improved
cognition, more efficient brain function and retained brain volume in
older people, said Kramer. He cautions that different fitness training
regimens and aspects of mental functions need further study to solidify
a causal relationship.
But, he added, there are some preliminary positive
findings. In a four year study looking at the relationship between
physical activity on cognition and brain function in 62-70 year olds,
“those who continued to work and retirees who exercised showed sustained
levels of cerebral blood flow and superior performance on general
measures of cognition as compared to the group of inactive retirees,”
said Kramer.
Other studies confirmed the evidence that fitness
does have positive effects on brain function in older adults.
A study of older adults who were randomly assigned
to either a walking group or a stretching and toning control group for
six months found that those in the walking group were better able to
ignore distracting information in a distractibility task than those in
the control group. “Aerobically trained older adults showed increased
neural activities in certain parts of the brain that involved attention
and reduced activity in other parts of the brain that are sensitive to
behavioral conflict,” said Kramer.
Animal studies also provide support for the aging
benefits of physical activity. Analyzing the effects of exercise in
animal populations provides a unique window into learning about
exercise-induced neurological and cognitive plasticity – the ability of
parts of the brain to function in place of other parts of the brain,
said Dr. Kramer.
Some of the animal studies reviewed used
voluntary-wheel running experiments to show the existence of performance
benefits of wheel running on hippocampus-related spatial learning tasks.
Moreover, a few studies found that aged rodents that exercised in a
water maze learned and retained information about a hidden platform
better than age-matched controls.
Exercise also protected both young and aged animals
from developing some age-related diseases as indicated by increases in
certain neurochemical levels that can offset or prevent certain
pathological diseases.
“From this review we have found that physical and
aerobic exercise training can lower the risk for developing some
undesirable age-related changes in cognitive and brain functions,” said
Dr. Kramer, “and also help the brain maintain its plasticity - ability
to cover one function if another starts failing later in life.”
More research is needed to know exactly how much
and what types of exercise produce the most rapid and significant
effects on thinking and the brain; how long exercise effects last
following the end of training; or how much exercise is needed to get
continued benefits, said Kramer.
Editor's Notes:
Presentation: “Fitness Training and the Brain:
From Molecules to Minds,” Arthur F. Kramer, PhD, Stanley J. Colcombe,
PhD, Kirk Erickson, PhD, and Paige Scalf, PhD, University of Illinois at
Urbana – Champaign. Presented Friday, August 11, 2006.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in
Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization
representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest
association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than
150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations
with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA
works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means
of promoting health, education and human welfare.
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