Research has repeatedly found that having a regular exercise routine can do your health a solid. But a new study found it may help boost your brain health for years to come.
That’s the major takeaway from a new study published in the medical journal Aging and Disease. For the study, researchers followed 151 healthy 65- to 85-year-olds as they went through a six-month exercise program. The participants went through a slew of tests along the way, including biomarker and cognitions tests, along with brain scans.
From there, they were followed for five years. The researchers discovered that the participants got a boost in cognition—that is, mental processes in the brain like thinking, attention, language, learning, memory, and perception—from the exercise. And, the effects stuck around for five years.
The study had participants do three exercise intensities: Low-intensity exercises like balance and stretching; medium-intensity exercises like brisk walking on a treadmill; and high-intensity exercises like running hard on a treadmill. Ultimately, they discovered that the high-intensity exercise was best.
‘Six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flick the switch,’ study co-author Perry Bartlett, a professor emeritus at the University of Queensland, said in a statement.
The researchers also found that exercise increased the production of neurons in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that’s involved in memory, learning, and emotion. As a result, it improved cognition.
‘Exercise-based interventions can provide significant protection against hippocampal cognitive decline in the aged population,’ the researchers concluded in the study.
The researchers are hoping that their findings will help doctors create meaningful exercise plans for older adults.
‘Our finding can inform exercise guidelines for older people and further research could assess different types of exercise that could be incorporated into aged care,’ Daniel Blackmore, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Queensland’s Queensland Brain Institute, said in a statement.
In the future, the researchers also looking to see if there are certain genetic factors that makes someone more likely to get the best brain boost from high-intensity exercises.
By the way, if you want to tap into the mental health perks of high-intensity interval training, these HIIT workouts can help to get you started.
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Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.