Walking Could Protect Your Aging Memory

A new research supported by the National Institute on Aging, suggests that people who walk at least six miles (9.65 km) per week preserve their memory as they age and also protect their brain size.

The study focused on 299 people without dementia, and recorded the number of blocks they walked in one week.

Nine years later, the researchers looked at the brain scans of the participants and measured their brain size, and four more years after this, the subjects were tested to see if they had developed dementia or cognitive impairment.

The results of the study concluded that people who walked at least 72 blocks a week, or between six to nine miles, had a greater gray matter volume than others.

The brain measurement nine years after recording their activity also discovered that walking more than 72 blocks did not increase the gray matter volume any further.

The measurements four years later, concluded that 116 of the participants – 40%, had developed cognitive impairment or dementia, and those who walked the most, had cut their risk of developing memory problems in half.

Study author Kirk I. Erickson, PhD, with the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, said that “brain size shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems.

“Our results should encourage well-designed trials of physical exercise in older adults as a promising approach for preventing dementia and Alzheimer's disease,” he added.

“If regular exercise in midlife could improve brain health and improve thinking and memory in later life, it would be one more reason to make regular exercise in people of all ages a public health imperative,” Erickson concluded.

The American Academy of Neurology is an association which counts more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals.

This study was published in the October 13, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.