Reverse Memory Loss with EXERCISE

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Reverse Memory Loss with EXERCISE

Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day 4 days a week over a 12-week period improved memory scores and neural efficiency in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to new research.

The finding suggests that exercise may protect against or delay conversion to Alzheimer’s disease in at-risk individuals.

“We found that after just 12 weeks of being on a moderate exercise program, participants improved their neural efficiency; they were using fewer neural resources to perform the same memory task,” J. Carson Smith, PhD, from the University of Maryland in College Park, told Medscape Medical News.

The study is published in the August issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Gradual Increase in Intensity

Dr. Smith, a kinesiologist, said he has long been interested in finding out whether exercise could be useful in helping people who already are experiencing memory problems that go beyond the usual lapses of memory associated with normal aging.

We often recommend physical exercise for people diagnosed with MCI because it has been reported to produce cognitive benefits in healthy older adults. 

The exercise component of the study consisted of 44 sessions of treadmill walking that were supervised by a qualified personal fitness trainer during a period of 12 weeks.

The exercise intensity, session duration, and weekly frequency were gradually increased during the first 4 weeks until the participants were walking 30 minutes per session 4 times a week at an intensity of approximately 50% to 60% of heart rate reserve during weeks 5 to 12.

Memory Loss Reversed

Participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, during which they were asked to recognize names of 30 famous people, such as Frank Sinatra, and 30 names of nonfamous individuals chosen from a local phone book.

Both MCI and control participants significantly increased their cardiorespiratory fitness, as shown by improvement in peak aerobic capacity (VO2peak), by approximately 10% (P = .004) from baseline.

The researchers also found that memory scores on the AVLT test, which required that participants repeat a list of 15 words that was read to them, significantly improved among the MCI participants (P = .006) from baseline.

The MCI group improved with the exercise. Before the intervention, they could remember 4 words, and after, this went up to 5 words, which was a significant improvement for them.

They are not losing memory like they were before. It is quite remarkable, in fact, because these people are expected to continue to lose memory function, and we showed that we could reverse that.

Slow Progression to Alzheimer’s?

Exercise could benefit cognitive function a number of ways, Dr. Smith said.

“It’s difficult to know for sure, and exercise affects every system in the body almost simultaneously, so to try to isolate what exactly is going on is difficult.”

The improvement may also be due to increased blood flow and blood volume in the brain, which would boost the health of the neurons and bring them more nutrients.

The increased blood flow may also help to counteract the buildup of amyloid plaque that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease, he said.

Encouraged by these results, Dr. Smith said he and his team plan to do this study in a larger group of people and to follow them for a longer period.

J Alzheimers Dis. In press, 2013. Abstract

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