Memory loss in Older Adults:
Exercise is a good sedative for depression. It releases chemicals in your brain called endorphins, which improve your mood. Research shows that exercise can make you happier, build resilience and boost your self-esteem.
Memory loss in the elderly is caused by the shrinking of a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps form memories. A new study suggests that regular aerobic exercise may be beneficial in slowing or reversing age-related memory loss in adults. This happens as a result of training increasing the size of the hippocampus.
The researchers found that one year of moderate aerobic exercise, such as walking, increased the volume of the hippocampus by about 2%, reversing age-related hippocampal shrinkage.
Shrinking of the hippocampus is considered by experts to be inevitable in old age, but they believe that the brain can change during this period as well. They believe that even a year of moderate training can increase the size of the hippocampus by six.
In a study published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers assigned 120 adults between the ages of 55 and 80 to one of two groups. One group followed an aerobic exercise program of walking on a treadmill for 40 minutes a day three days a week; the other group was given exercises until stretching and toning.
Brain scans taken at the beginning of the study and one year later showed that the right and left sides of the hippocampus increased by 2.12% and 1.97%, , in the aerobic exercise group. Yet, a brain scan study found that the right and left sides of the hippocampus had a 1.40% and 1.43% reduction in noise in the other groups,
The results of this study show that even a small amount of exercise, especially by older adults, can lead to significant improvements in memory and brain health. Such improvements could have a significant impact on the health of the elderly and the growing population of elderly people in the world. "
