Moderate exercise improves brain blood flow
It’s never too late for women to reap the benefits of moderate aerobic exercise, according to research conducted at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas.
The report suggested that women aged 60 or over improved blood flow through to the brain by 15% after exercising 30 to 50 minutes, three or four times a week.
According to lead researcher Dr Rhong Zhang, the results provided insight into how vascular health affects brain health.
“There are many studies that suggest that exercise improves brain function in older adults, but we don’t know exactly why the brain improves,” Dr Zhang said.
“Our study indicated it might be tied to an improvement in the supply of blood flow to the brain,” he said.
Dr Zhang stressed the importance that improvement in brain blood flow is possible in senior years.
“We often start to see a decline in brain perfusion and cognitive function in the 60s and 70s – that’s when the downward trajectory starts. We now want to see how much we can do to reverse or delay that process,” he said.
