Walking may enhance brain health … but wait … there’s more!
Posted by strivealive on October 20, 2010
Your brain on legs!
A recent study in the Journal of Neurology found that walking may preserve memory in old age. For the study, 299 dementia-free people recorded the number of blocks they walked in one week. Then nine years later, scientists took brain scans of the participants to measure their brain size. After four more years, the participants were tested to see if they had developed cognitive impairment or dementia.The study found that people who walked at least 72 blocks per week, or roughly six to nine miles, had greater gray matter volume than people who didn’t walk as much, when measured at the nine-year time point after their recorded activity. Walking more than 72 blocks did not appear to increase gray matter volume any further.
This is good news and another brick in the wall of information that increasingly shows exercise is beneficial at levels and to extents that we are still discovering.
But wait … there’s more! These positive findings prompted me to make the case (again) for strength training, in part because the article above reminded me that strength training, too, has been reported to improve brain function! Check out my earlier blog post ‘Brawny Brains?’ http://bit.ly/9d2Ep9 .
Strength training however, has the added advantage of increasing independence by improving our ability to perform activities of daily living such as chores, lifting, carrying, using stairs and chairs etc, something that cannot be achieved simply by walking. Additionally we can gain these strength-induced benefits in as little as 2 sessions of 30 minutes per week – far less time than the 72 blocks a week walked by individuals in the Neurology study!
These documented benefits, combined with its relatively short time requirement, is yet another great reason for residential/wellness directors to include some form of strength training or strengthening program their older adult community’s wellness culture. Check out my blog post ‘Taking the road less travelled’ http://bit.ly/cuhxxy .
The other thing is, for those of us who love to walk, or wish to start, the increased leg strength and endurance gained from strength training, as well as its positive contribution to balance, will make walking easier to include in our active lifestyle. So …
Give yourself – and your walking – a ‘lift’
Add strength training to your weekly activities
