| Exercise
Sharpens Judgement
Source: HealthDay
(HealthDayNews) -- Brisk walks that improve cardiovascular
fitness help ageing adults sharpen their mental focus
and decision-making abilities.
That simple solution to cognitive decline appears
in a study in this week's issue of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers
used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to
measure changes in brain activity among adults, aged
58 to 78, before and after they completed a six-month
aerobic exercise program.
The program involved gradually increasing periods
of walking over the first three months. In the final
three months, each person walked briskly for 45 minutes
in three sessions per week.
Those who completed the aerobic exercise program
reduced their level of behavioural conflict in completing
a computer-based task by 11 percent from their pre-exercise
levels. A group of control subjects who did only stretching
and toning had a decrease of 2 percent.
"The brain circuits that underlie our ability
to think -- in this case to attend selectively to information
in the environment -- can change in a way that is conducive
to better performance on tasks as a result of fitness.
The kinds of tasks that we explored are similar to
those encountered in real world situations, such as
driving a vehicle or any endeavour that requires a
person to pay attention despite distractions,"
researcher and psychology professor Arthur F. Kramer
says in a prepared statement.
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