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 “The best medicine is physical activity,” lead researcher Ralph
Martins told Reuters Health.
“At the end of the day, the two together – physical activity and
cognitive training – gave us an additional benefit,” said Martins,
who directs the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease
Research and Care at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.
Martins and his colleagues studied 172 people from ages 60 to 85
years, assigning them randomly into four groups.
One group walked three days a week for an hour and did 40 minutes of
resistance training twice a week for 16 weeks. Another group did
hour-long computer brain-training exercises five days a week, also
for 16 weeks. A third group did both the physical exercise and the
computer activities. A fourth group maintained their regular
routines.
The researchers write in Translational Psychiatry that only the
group that engaged in both physical activity and computerized brain
training showed significantly improved verbal memory, which helps
people remember words and language.
The researchers note that the study failed to show benefits for
executive functions that control focus, attention to details and
goal setting. They also didn’t find benefits for visual memory,
processing speed or attention.
Martins said physical exercise had the most profound and constant
effect.
Dr. David Merrill also sees physical activity as the most useful aid
to maintaining memory and cognitive ability as people age, but the
combination of physical and mental exercise may offer “synergistic”
benefits.
“What’s good for the muscular-skeletal system is good for the
cardiovascular system, and it’s also good for the brain,” said
Merrill, who is a geriatric psychiatrist at the David Geffen School
of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Physical exercise sets the stage for the brain to be responsive to
new information,” said Merrill, who was not involved with the new
study. “You’re all ready to build new synapses, new connections.”
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Both Martins and Merrill recommend that older people exercise
regularly and stay intellectually involved. Both favor real-life
challenges over computerized brain exercises.
Martins urges retirees to join service organizations, like the
Rotary Club, and to dance for the physical exercise and mental
acuity.
"Full retirement doesn’t make sense for graceful aging,” Merrill
said. “People should try to keep working not only to maintain their
self-identity but to challenge their brain.”
Merrill said the new research is the most recent of a handful of
studies showing that a combination of interventions can help seniors
remain mentally alert.
He advocates building up to more strenuous exercise than people did
in the study.
“There’s lots of data that shows that being physically active is
good for the brain,” he said. “It’s almost so intuitive that it
defies logic that so few people are active physically.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that
older adults perform moderate and vigorous aerobic and
muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Kfr5Go
Translational Psychiatry, online December 2, 2014.
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