Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Regular brisk walks can slow down the brain shrinkage and the faltering mental skills that old age often brings, scientists say.
Studies on men and women aged 60 to 80 years old found that taking a short walk three times a week increased the size of brain regions linked to planning and memory over the course of a year.
The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus increased in size by only 2% or 3%, but that was enough to offset the steady shrinkage doctors expected to see over the same period.
"It may sound like a modest amount but that's actually like reversing the age clock by about one to two years," said Professor Kirk Erickson, a neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/17/brain-walk-delaying-dementia-memory
Studies on men and women aged 60 to 80 years old found that taking a short walk three times a week increased the size of brain regions linked to planning and memory over the course of a year.
The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus increased in size by only 2% or 3%, but that was enough to offset the steady shrinkage doctors expected to see over the same period.
"It may sound like a modest amount but that's actually like reversing the age clock by about one to two years," said Professor Kirk Erickson, a neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/17/brain-walk-delaying-dementia-memory