Exercise and Brain Health: How Much Is Enough?

Hello everyone:

Here is some great news about exercise and brain volume. Please recall that any loss of brain volume is NOT a good thing, as it is associated with brain fog, progressing to cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. So some smart folks decided to figure it out for us:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2730790?guestAccessKey=dbc8a200-1cef-4c35-baef-1f985d6db75c&utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetwork&utm_content=weekly_highlights&utm_term=050419

Importance: Dementia risk may be attenuated by physical activity (PA); however, the specific activity levels optimal for dementia prevention are unclear. Moreover, most older adults are unable to meet the nationally recommended PA guidelines, set at 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA per week.

Conclusions and Relevance: Every additional hour of light-intensity PA was associated with higher brain volumes, even among individuals not meeting current PA guidelines. These data are consistent with the notion that the potential benefits of PA on brain aging may accrue at a lower, more achievable level of intensity or duration.

Bottom Line: What this means to you and I is that physical activity reduced dementia risk and improves brain function. So, no excuses allowed…start walking, do Tai Chi classes, attend yoga classes (my personal favorite) …just start moving and do not stop! Find a level of exertion that you can do, and start slowly and carefully to improve your overall functioning and fitness. If you don’t, you are literally slowly killing your brain. Oh, and don’t forget your B-vitamins!!

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