Regular exercise may help slow down memory loss

Memory loss comes with old age. According to a new study, however, one of the best safeguards against the deterioration of cognitive functions just may be regular exercise.

Second only to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is one of the leading causes of dementia. This condition results in the decline of mental abilities, including reasoning, thinking, memory, language, and problem-solving.

VCI is brought about by a reduction in the flow of blood to the brain. This leads to the damage and death of brain cells, which, in turn, causes cognitive problems such as those listed above.

To understand how exercise benefits cognitive function, we first have to know what causes this decrease in blood flow to the brain. The usual culprit is the blockage or narrowing of the brain’s tiny blood vessels, which is the result of numerous mini strokes or a major stroke. These problems often develop due to underlying health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Smoking, obesity, and other poor lifestyle choices also have a part to play in the issue.

At the moment, there is neither a foolproof cure for VCI nor a way to undo the damage it does to the brain. However, a recent study has just discovered that a change in lifestyle may be enough to slow down the cognitive decline caused by VCI.

“Studies have shown that exercise can help reduce the risk of developing memory problems, but few studies have looked at whether it can help people who already have these problems get better or keep from getting worse,” stated study author Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose of Vancouver, Canada’s University of British Columbia.

Exercise classes

Liu-Ambrose and her team set out to examine how regular aerobic exercises affected the everyday and cognitive functions of adults with VCI.

They gathered 70 adults, aged 74 years on average, who were then separated into two groups. The first group was made to participate in 1-hour exercise programs thrice weekly for 6 months. The members of the second group did no such exercises; they were instead provided monthly information regarding a healthy diet and VCI, but none about regular exercise.

Improvements observed

The participants’ thinking skills – as well as their ability to organize and plan everyday tasks – were tested before and immediately after the study.

Compared to the participants belonging to the second group, those who attended exercise classes for 6 months were seen to have improvements in their cardiovascular capacity and blood pressure. The improvement in blood pressure is of particular importance, as people are at risk of developing VCI due to high blood pressure.

But here’s where it gets interesting: the exercise group also experienced an improvement of about 1.7 points on the thinking test.

“This result, while modest, was similar to that seen in previous studies testing the use of drugs for people with vascular cognitive impairment,” said Liu-Ambrose. “However, the difference was less than what is considered to be the minimal clinically important difference of three points.”

6 months after the end of the study and the exercise classes, both groups’ thinking skills were assessed again using similar tests. As expected, the non-exercise group displayed no improvements. Sadly, the exercise group also showed results that were the same as the non-exercise group’s. This suggests the importance of regular exercise; to maintain physical and mental health, one must exercise on a regular basis.

Regardless of the study’s limitations, “the results of this work provide a proof of concept of the effect of physical activities on cognition in patients with VCI and encourage further studies on larger groups of people with VCI,” Dr. Alexandra Foubert-Samier stated in the study’s editorial.

More research is required to determine with full certainty the ameliorating effects of regular exercise on memory loss.

The study was published in Neurology, an American Academy of Neurology medical journal. — BM, GMA News