Could Exercise Keep Our Minds Sharper?

November  2022 

If you want to slow mental and physical aging, working out might be the key - and even just walking may benefit you.

A study published in July in Neurology (the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology) concluded that adults highly engaged in frequent exercise had a 35% lower risk of developing neurological issues than those involved in infrequent activity. The researchers determined that even regularly doing household chores lowered risk by 21%. They asked questions of more than 500,000 members of the United Kingdom's BioBank, where individuals can record their genetic and health information. BioBank followed these individuals for approximately 11 years for the study. Another study of more than 70,000 individuals from the same U.K. health database casts a vote for brisk walking. It gets the blood going, and the brain may have distinct benefits. This study, led by researchers from Spain's University of Cadiz and the University of Southern Denmark, asserts that walking between 3,800-9,800 steps each day lowers your risk of neurological issues. To quantify this finding a bit further, the researchers report that people aged 40-79 who took at least 9,800 steps each day cut their chances of developing neurological issues in the next seven years by 50%.^3,4