A recent study has shown a correlation to exist between physical fitness and the rate of cognitive aging. Specifically, the group measured explosive leg power, cognitive capacity, and volume of grey matter in a group of female twins. Leg power was chosen as an indicator for physical fitness as it is a highly reliable measure for total fitness and physical ability.
The authors observed a strong correlation between increased leg power and improved cognitive aging. Essentially, this shows a relationship between physical ability and diminished negative effects of cognitive aging. Although this data does not indicate causation, the study is quite robust in that a sample size of 300+ patients was examined over 10 years, a relatively long time period for these types of studies.
There are two main proposed mechanisms by which leg strength could improve cognitive aging: improved cardiovascular systems and improved immunological systems. As for the former, increased cardiovascular health is known to prevent cardiovascular damage in general (e.g., ischaemic heart disease, heart failure), which could help improve brain functioning. As for the latter, it is known that age related changes in immune
function and inflammation are significantly reduced in
individuals with a life-long history of high-level exercise. No exact mechanism is known as of yet.
Needless to say, maintaining your physical fitness is never a bad idea. If it does indeed delay cognitive decay if you are sure not to skip leg day, why not give it a shot?
Steves, C. J., Mehta, M. M., Jackson, S. H., & Spector, T. D. (2015). Kicking Back Cognitive Ageing: Leg Power Predicts Cognitive Ageing after Ten Years in Older Female Twins. Gerontology.
I love your title considering the next upcoming weeks! I found your article to be really positive and reassuring. I know there are several studies that show that exercise is healthy and contributes to your overall health. As we age, we know that cognitive function generally decreases, and if we know that exercise can help to prevent that, others may try to exercise more consistently. I am curious if there is a linear correction between leg power and cognitive function? A moderate amount of exercise would seem plausible to keeping a healthy brain function, but what would that amount of exercise or leg power need to be?
ReplyDeleteExercise if good for all parts of your body and can contribute to health in many aspects including stress. Stress can be correlated to several health issues including cognitive ability. Exercise can be related to several of these things and shows positive effects for all of them! Great post!
This is a study that was nice to read about, considering how beneficial leg exercises like squats are. It is enlightening to see that from this study, it was determined that leg power was the number one predictor of cognitive change than any other behavioral factor that was examined. Interestingly enough, another study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides greater evidence in support of the connection between physical activity and cognitive health. In this study, there were nine children within the age range of 9 and 10, and the researchers looked into their nerve tissue on the brain and spinal cord (white matter). It was found that the children who were involved with physical activity had thicker and denser white matter than those who were not as physically active. With this thicker and denser white matter, it correlates to better memory, focus, and cognitive activity. This was a great topic to discuss.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.medicaldaily.com/fitter-legs-mean-fitter-brain-leg-strength-could-also-indicate-your-cognitive-health-360930
It make sense that they choose leg muscle as indicator for physical fitness due lower limb muscle making up 60% of our total body muscle. Since there are two type of muscle fibers that human have, does it matter if it the marathon runner leg muscle or the sprinter leg muscle that most affecting cognition capacity. It seem like this study bias on only fast twitch muscle fibers for there study, even though leg muscle comprise of both fast and slow twitch. I think it would be interesting to compare the two type of muscle fibers and see if any difference in cognitive capacity is observe.
ReplyDeleteI love to exercise and stay active, so constantly hearing about how exercise helps my body stay healthy makes me happy. I had no idea that it also helped in determining cognitive aging, although it makes a lot of sense. One thing on my mind, though, is how can this knowledge be used to help those who are incapable of doing exercise, such as someone who is handicapped or has an illness that prevents them from exercising? Are people who are forced to live a more sedentary life style doomed to experience cognitive decay? I did read an article recently about the new "exercise pill" and how it is supposed to simulate exercise in someone who is incapable of exercising. I am wondering if these drugs could also delay cognitive decay.
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