Do you know what could happen to your body when walking after the age of 60?
A recent study revealed an amazing link between brisk walking and memory, confirming that “walking may treat mild cognitive impairment and improve brain health and thinking in older adults suffering from memory decline.” The New York Times reported, based on a year-long study, that 70 male and female participants, middle-aged and older, showing early signs of memory loss, practiced brisk walking regularly, which led to improvements in their cognitive scores.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, along with other institutions, asked participants to increase their physical activity after conducting tests on their current health, cognitive functions, and physical fitness levels. Afterward, the paper added, they were re-examined using advanced ultrasound and other techniques to measure the stiffness of the carotid artery, which delivers blood to the brain, and the amount of blood flowing into and through their brains. Ultimately, the participants were divided into two groups. One group started a light stretching exercise program to serve as an active control group, while the second group began a walking regimen.
Researchers instructed participants to maintain activity levels that raised their heart rate and breathing noticeably, allowing them the freedom to swim or cycle alongside walking. Each individual in both groups exercised three times a week for half an hour for six months. By the end of the year, they were able to complete about five training sessions per week. Participants were tested in a lab to compare the new results, which revealed that the group engaging in physical exercise had significantly lower stiffness in their carotid arteries, leading to increased blood flow to and through their brains. The study concluded that the most important result was that participants’ performance was better than that of the light stretching group in certain cognitive skill tests involving planning and decision-making.
At the end of the experiment, researchers suggested that brisk walking, over a longer period of time, would result in greater cognitive gains and less memory loss compared to participants in the first group who only engaged in light stretching exercises.
