Moderate intensity exercise can benefit memory performance
Three experiments involving a total of 59 people provides more evidence that moderate intensity exercise (e.g., brisk walking, water aerobics, cycling) is enough for cognitive improvement. Indeed, moderate intensity exercise had the most beneficial effect on memory performance.
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Data from a publicly available database of 1206 MRI brain scans from the Human Connectome Project has revealed that physical fitness is associated with better brain structure and brain functioning in young adults.
The volunteers (average age 29) had their physical fitness assessed using a "two-minute walking test", where each person is asked to walk as fast as possible for 2 minutes and the distance is then measured. Cognition was assessed using a series of cognitive tests to create a global cognition score.
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A study in which 64 sedentary older adults (aged 60-88) participated in a 12-week exercise program found that those who engaged in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) saw an improvement of up to 30% in memory performance while participants who engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise saw no improvement, on average.
Moreover, improvements in fitness levels directly correlated with improvement in memory performance.
Participants participated in three sessions per week. A control group engaged in stretching only.
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A small study involving 12 very fit older adults (aged 50-80; average age 61) found that, after stopping their exercise routines for 10 days, there was a significant decrease in blood flow to several brain regions, including the
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A study involving 30 previously physically inactive older adults (aged 61-88) found that a three-month exercise program reversed some brain atrophy.
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A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.
The women were aged 45-55 when the study began in 1992. Health and lifestyle factors were assessed at intervals over the next 20 years.
Memory was assessed using a Verbal Episodic Memory test in which they were asked to learn a list of 10 unrelated words and attempt to recall them 30 minutes later.
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Memories are made through a synaptic-strengthening process called long-term potentiation (LTP). Prolonged stress weakens the synapses, which decreases LTP, thus having a negative effect on memory. A mouse study found that when exercise co-occurs with stress, LTP levels are not decreased, but remain normal.
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A Canadian study involving 45,522 adults (30+) found that higher levels of physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables, and having a BMI in the normal weight or overweight range were each associated with better cognitive function in both younger and older adults.
Specifically, for those who were normal weight or overweight (but not obese), eating more than 10 servings of fruit and vegetable daily was linked to better cognitive functioning. When moderate exercise was added, those eating less than five servings, reported better cognitive functioning.
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A rat study comparing different forms of exercise has found that running was much more effective than HIIT or resistence training in generating new brain cells.
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A study of 105 female college students found that those with the highest levels of stored iron had the highest grades. Fitness was also a factor, but while the effect of fitness was greater overall than the impact of iron status, both factors together had an even greater effect. The difference between fit women with normal iron levels and unfit women who were iron deficient was sufficiently large to to drop or increase a letter grade.
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A 2017 review of research has concluded that, although the number of studies into the cognitive effects of the cocoa bean is limited and has produced mixed results, on balance the evidence points to positive cognitive effects from regular intake of “cocoa flavanols”, as well as immediate benefits from consumption.
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Data from the long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, involving 960 participants who completed a food frequency questionnaire from 2004 to 2013, found that those who ate one daily serving of green, leafy vegetables had a slower rate of cognitive decline than people who rarely or never ate them. Those who ate at least one serving of leafy green vegetables showed an equivalent of being 11 years younger cognitively.
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A large, long-running Finnish study looking at the dietary habits of 2,497 men aged 42-60 has found that a high intake of dietary cholesterol was not associated with the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, even among carriers of the ‘Alzheimer’s gene’ APOE4.
Previous research has found that the effect of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels is more visible in carriers of APOE4. In Finland, the prevalence of the APOE4 gene variant is exceptionally high and approximately a third of the population are carriers.
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A study involving 99 healthy older adults found that levels of monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with cognitive performance and the organization of the brain's attention network.
MUFAs are found in olive oils, nuts and avocados, and are a component of the Mediterranean diet, which has been associated with slower cognitive decline and lower dementia risk.
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Data from 915 older adults (mean age 81.4) participating in the very long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, has found that those who reported eating seafood less than once a week showed greater cognitive decline compared to those who ate at least one seafood meal per week.
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A largish Chinese study, involving 541 9-11-year-olds, has found that those who ate fish at least once a week slept better and had higher IQ scores, on average, than those who ate fish less frequently or not at all.
The study suggests that sleep may be a reason for the association previous research has found between the consumption of fish / omega-3 oils and better cognition.
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Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, involving 8,574 middle-aged and older adults (aged 45-85), has found that those who ate more vegetables and fruits and more nuts and pulses (such as lentils and beans) scored higher on tests of verbal fluency. Every increase in average daily fruit and vegetable intake was linked to higher verbal fluency scores, but the best outcomes were found among those who consumed at least 6 servings a day.
Additionally, those with stage 2 hypertension had lower verbal fluency scores, as did those with higher levels of body fat.
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A study looking at how 51 women performed on a test of their attention after they ate either a meal high in saturated fat or the same meal made with sunflower oil (high in unsaturated fat), found their performance was worse after eating the high-saturated-fat meal than after they ate the meal containing a healthier fat.
This is particularly remarkable when you consider that both meals with high in fat, being designed to resemble fast-food meals that you might get at McDonald’s or Burger King. So this is showing that even this slight improvement can have a noticeable effect.
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Analysis of data from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and AREDS2, involving a total of around 8,000 older adults, has found that those with the greatest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the lowest risk of cognitive impairment. High fish and vegetable consumption appeared to have the greatest protective effect. At 10 years, AREDS2 participants with the highest fish consumption had the slowest rate of cognitive decline.
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A study involving 110 lean and healthy students (aged 20-23) found that those randomly assigned to a high energy western-style diet for a week performed worse on a memory test compared to those who ate their normal healthy diet. Moreover, those on the unhealthy diet then showed a greater tendency to eat more sugary foods.
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A study involving 5,907 older adults (average age 68) found that those who ate Mediterranean and MIND-style diets scored significantly better on cognitive tests than those who ate less healthy diets, with adherence to a brain-healthy diet correlating with cognitive benefit in a dose-response way. Those who followed these healthy diets also had lower risk of cognitive impairment in later life.
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A study has found evidence that brain changes associated with aging can be seen at a much younger age than would be expected, in the late 40s. However, this process may be prevented or reversed based on dietary changes that involve minimizing the consumption of simple carbohydrates.
It’s suggested that, as people get older, their brains start to lose the ability to metabolize glucose efficiently, causing neurons to slowly starve, and brain networks to destabilize.
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Data from the large and very long-running Framingham Heart Study has revealed that people who drink sugary drinks frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller
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A double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 40 older adults (aged 51-84) who had mild memory complaints, found that those given 90 milligrams of curcumin twice daily for 18 months experienced significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities. Those taking curcumin also had mild improvements in mood, and brain scans showed significantly less amyloid and tau signals in the
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A mouse study has found that a month of consuming cinnamon produced a significant cognitive improvement in poor-learning mice.
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A mouse study found that high levels of alcohol over a long period of time were associated with high levels of a marker for inflammation, along with impaired cognition and motor skills.
However, those exposed to low levels of alcohol consumption, analogous to approximately 2 ½ drinks per day, actually showed less inflammation in the brain and their glymphatic system was more efficient in moving CSF through the brain and removing waste, compared to control mice who were not exposed to alcohol. Their cognitive performance also matched that of the controls.
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A British study following 550 adults over 30 years from 1985 has found that those who reported higher levels of alcohol consumption were more often found to have a shrunken
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Research using human cell cultures and mice suggests that those with an uncommon variation of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene (ALDH2) may be more at risk of Alzheimer's if they consume alcohol. This gene variation is associated with facial redness following alcohol consumption, reflecting reduced activity of an enzyme that protects against a toxin produced by alcohol consumption (acetaldehyde). Flushing, and inflammation, is a response to the toxin.
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A 10-year study involving 19,887 middle-aged and older Americans, who completed surveys every two years about their health and lifestyle, has found that those who had a drink or two a day tended to show less cognitive decline, compared to non-drinkers.
Cognitive function was measured in a series of tests looking at their overall mental status, word recall and vocabulary. Their test results were combined to form a total cognitive score.
Age, smoking and education level were controlled for.
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An Australian study involving 102 older adults (60-90) has concluded that physical fitness and arterial stiffness account for a great deal of age-related memory decline.
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Exercise activates brain networks in older adults
A study involving healthy older adults (55-85) found that recall was better after a session of moderately intense exercise, and several crucial brain regions showed greater activation.
The recall task involved identifying famous names and non famous ones. The test occurred 30 minutes after the exercise session (using an exercise bike) and on a separate day after a period of rest.
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A small pilot study, in which participants had brain scans and
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How exercise may protect against Alzheimer's
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A mouse study helps explain why vitamin D is so important for cognition. After 20 weeks of no vitamin D, the healthy adult mice showed a significant decline in their ability to remember and learn. They also showed a pronounced reduction in perineuronal nets in the
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Chronic insomnia linked to memory problems
Data from 28,485 older Canadians (45+) found that those with chronic insomnia performed significantly worse on cognitive tests than those who had symptoms of insomnia without any noticable impact on their daytime functioning and those with normal sleep quality. The main type of memory affected was declarative memory (memory of concepts, events and facts).
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Disrupted sleep in one's 50s, 60s raises Alzheimer's risk
A study involving 95 healthy older adults found that adults reporting a decline in sleep quality in their 40s and 50s had more amyloid-beta in their brains later in life, while those reporting poorer sleep in their 50s and 60s had more tau tangles. Those with high levels of tau protein were more likely to lack the synchronized brain waves during deep NREM sleep that are associated with a good night's sleep, and the more tau protein, the less synchronized these brain waves were.
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Brain scans of 9,772 people aged 44 to 79, who were enrolled in the UK Biobank study, have revealed that smoking, high blood pressure, high pulse pressure, diabetes, and high BMI — but not high cholesterol — were all linked to greater brain shrinkage, less
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A large Chinese study involving 20,000 people has found that the longer people were exposed to air pollution, the worse their cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. The effect of air pollution on verbal tests became more pronounced with age, especially for men and the less educated.
The study followed the participants from 2010 to 2014, meaning that the same individuals could be assessed as air pollution varied from one year to the next.
The findings add to previous research showing the harmful effects of air pollution on cognitive performance in children.
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Ten minutes of light exercise boosts memory
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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep.
People with OSA are known to suffer memory problems and also have higher rates of depression.
A new study connects the two by finding that people with untreated OSA had problems recalling specific details about their lives. Previous research has established that persistent depression is associated with overly general autobiographical memories, where people don't remember many specific details of life events.
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