The Most Effective Way to Protect an Aging Brain
The Most Effective Way to Protect an Aging Brain
They can still live independently and feed, dress, and bathe themselves. But it usually takes a lot more effort to do things like grocery shop or balance the checkbook. People with mild cognitive impairment -- which affects an estimated 10% to 15% of adults over the age of 65 -- typically rely heavily on notes and calendars to get through the day.
Not everyone with MCI will progress to Alzheimer’s disease, but many do.
Baker has randomly assigned people with MCI to one of two groups -- a group that exercised vigorously for 6 months or one that stretched on a regular basis. In her studies, exercisers are supervised by a trainer and are told to shoot for 3 to 4 hours of exercise at 75% to 85% of their maximum heart rate each week. The stretching group met for the same amount of time, but they kept their heart rate low while they limbered up.
After 6 months, the exercisers improved on tests of thinking and memory, and the effects were larger for women than for men.
In more recent studies, she has looked at the combined effects of exercise and diet and found that exercise boosts the benefits of a healthy diet, lowering levels of brain-clogging bits of beta amyloid proteins in spinal fluid.
Her latest results show that people with MCI who hit this high dose of exercise for at least 6 months also had less toxic tau protein and better blood flow compared to the stretching group.
Baker says she knows this is a lot of exercise, especially for people who aren’t used to it. And it’s hard for most people to make big lifestyle changes like this. She’s doing further studies to see if the dose has to be this intense, or if people could get away with a more leisurely pace or less rigorous schedule.
“My big caution is start very slowly,” Baker says, “Give yourself 6 weeks to get up to an intensity that is really effortful.”
The Most Effective Way to Protect an Aging Brain
A High Dose for Brain Health continued...
They can still live independently and feed, dress, and bathe themselves. But it usually takes a lot more effort to do things like grocery shop or balance the checkbook. People with mild cognitive impairment -- which affects an estimated 10% to 15% of adults over the age of 65 -- typically rely heavily on notes and calendars to get through the day.
Not everyone with MCI will progress to Alzheimer’s disease, but many do.
Baker has randomly assigned people with MCI to one of two groups -- a group that exercised vigorously for 6 months or one that stretched on a regular basis. In her studies, exercisers are supervised by a trainer and are told to shoot for 3 to 4 hours of exercise at 75% to 85% of their maximum heart rate each week. The stretching group met for the same amount of time, but they kept their heart rate low while they limbered up.
After 6 months, the exercisers improved on tests of thinking and memory, and the effects were larger for women than for men.
In more recent studies, she has looked at the combined effects of exercise and diet and found that exercise boosts the benefits of a healthy diet, lowering levels of brain-clogging bits of beta amyloid proteins in spinal fluid.
Her latest results show that people with MCI who hit this high dose of exercise for at least 6 months also had less toxic tau protein and better blood flow compared to the stretching group.
Baker says she knows this is a lot of exercise, especially for people who aren’t used to it. And it’s hard for most people to make big lifestyle changes like this. She’s doing further studies to see if the dose has to be this intense, or if people could get away with a more leisurely pace or less rigorous schedule.
“My big caution is start very slowly,” Baker says, “Give yourself 6 weeks to get up to an intensity that is really effortful.”
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