Your brain is a muscle. And just like all other muscles, you either ‘use it or lose it’. This has led to many people I know undertaking brain teasers such as crosswords or Sudoku in the belief that it will help ward off the development of dementia, a disease that affects more than 350,000 Australians – roughly 1 in 10 Australians over the age of 65 suffer from dementia.
It turns out that training your body may also help in warding off the development of dementia. Research conducted by the University of Kansas Medical Center, and reported by the Science Daily website in mid-2015, indicated that older adults can improve their brain function by raising their fitness levels. Their 6 month study of healthy adults over the age of 65 showed that all groups who exercised saw some benefit in terms of improved brain function, with those who exercised more experiencing the greatest benefits. These benefits included increased attention levels, an increase in the ability to focus and improved visual-spacial processing – this is the ability to perceive where objects are in space and how far apart they are from each other.
The research indicated that it was the intensity of the exercise that mattered more than the duration. Simply exercising is not enough. Rather, exercising that improves an individual’s overall fitness level is required to also improve brain function.
A recent article in the Annals of Internal Medicine cited on the Brain HQ website meanwhile highlights the result of a large study which indicated that regular exercise (at least three times a week) is associated with a decrease in the onset of dementia of more than 30%.
Want to find out more:
Click on the following link to the Brain HQ website for more information on the benefits of physical exercise as well as brain training for the brain. http://www.brainhq.com
Want to improve your brain function?
If you want to improve your brain function, and help ward off dementia, email us at Be Your Best Health & Fitness for a free consultation: [email protected]
