Physical exercise is known to provide plenty of health benefits. It helps maintain a healthy body weight, improves a person's mood, provides energy and prevents certain diseases and health problems. And according to a new research, it might also help prevent reduction of brain size in later life.
Medical News Today reports that a new study -- conducted by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts -- shows that there is a link between the physical fitness of middle age adults and their brain volumes 20 years later. People who lived a couch potato lifestyle had smaller brains 20 years later compared to those who were physically active.
The research was led by Nicole Spartano using data from the Framingham Heart Study. It involved the study of more than 1,500 healthy participants with an average age of 40-years-old. The participants' physical fitness levels and their brain's MRI scans were examined at the start of the study and two decades later.
"We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging," Spartano told Medical News Today. "The team found that for every eight-unit decrease in performance on the fitness trial, brain volumes dropped in size equivalent to 2 years' additional aging," MNT reports.
Spartano also explained that by using other studies, they also found out that physical exercise prevents a decrease in brain size by increasing the blood supply and oxygen flow to the brain. Later in life, these mechanisms slow down the aging of a person's brain.
Aside from physical exercise, there are other ways to promote a healthy brain. Reading books, socializing with others, getting plenty of rest, avoiding alcohol, drugs and smoking, eating nutritious foods and maintaining a strong sense of purpose in life are some of the most effective ways to have a healthy brain, according to Reader's Digest.
