Cognitive health and fitness is a top concern for older adults. Aging naturally contributes to cognitive decline. However, actively protecting brain health can slow cognitive loss and reduce the chances of more advanced neurodegenerative conditions.
Recent research has revealed that a holistic approach is effective in preventing neural decline in seniors. This includes healthy lifestyle choices, including a diverse and unprocessed diet and regular exercise.
The Holistic Approach to Brain Health
Holistic care is the opposite of allopathic medicine. In the allopathic approach, the focus is on treating symptoms or curing the disease itself. While allopathic medicine is successful in treating various conditions, especially infections and acute medical problems, it can fall short as the sole approach for treating more complex disorders.
Holistic treatment is often combined with allopathic remedies to address the entire body as a system. In the case of cognitive health, holistic medicine considers other areas of the body besides the brain. For example, the digestive system and the brain have a strong connection through the vagus nerve.
Disruptions to the gut microbiome can make their way to the brain and cause neuroinflammation, a factor in cognitive decline. Under the holistic approach, eating certain foods while avoiding others is an important aspect of maintaining brain health.
The holistic approach also acknowledges the effect of regular exercise on brain health. Overly sedentary lifestyles are closely linked with an increased risk of cognitive decline, especially in older people. Low levels of physical activity are as detrimental to your health as smoking. A sedentary lifestyle may also contribute to the thinning of the temporal lobe, a brain region associated with memory.
For these reasons, health experts advise people over 65 to engage in at least 30 minutes of exercise five times a week.
How Exercise Boosts Brain Health
Physical exercise triggers several biological processes that buffer the brain from age-related damage. For example, aerobic exercises such as swimming and squats stimulate neurogenesis. When the brain undergoes neurogenesis, it forms new brain cells.
These new cells then reinforce existing connections in the brain, making it more resistant to age-related declines. Exercise-induced neurogenesis generates the most neurons in the hippocampus, which is related to memory formation and retrieval.
Physical activity also strengthens the cardiovascular system and facilitates blood flow to the brain. This also contributes to thicker neural density and slower white and gray matter degradation.
Exercise also has indirect effects that support brain function. Regular physical activity can improve sleep quality. Insomnia and other sleep disorders are more prevalent in older people. Chronic sleep shortages can deteriorate cognitive function.
By promoting restful sleep, exercise enables the brain to enter restorative stages of sleep. This helps the brain process memories and clear up toxins that contribute to neural inflammation.
Exercise also lowers cortisol, a hormone that is released as part of the stress response. Elevated cortisol levels hasten neurodegeneration and can increase the risk of advanced cognitive decline.
The Latest Studies on Exercise and Brain Health
Due to the promising effects of physical activity on cognitive function, several studies have investigated applications for regular exercise routines to protect brain health in seniors.
A 2018 systematic review appraised more than 90 studies on the effects of exercise on brain health. The findings suggested that older people saw the most cognitive benefits after completing 52 hours of exercise. According to the study, the most effective exercises include strength training, yoga, tai-chi, and aerobics.
Researchers in China studied how a moderate exercise routine benefited seniors in an assisted living setting. Some participants displayed mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is more serious than age-related cognitive decline.
The study concluded that regular exercise was beneficial to participants with and without MCI.
A later study found that physical activity reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and linked routine exercise with higher cognitive function in seniors.
Since comorbidities, such as mental health issues and cardiovascular problems are prevalent amongst older people, many studies focus on the benefits of exercise for older people with multiple health conditions.
A 2019 study of 92 seniors, some of whom were diagnosed with depression, measured the health outcomes of a swimming intervention. The exercise program lowered stress and reduced depression symptoms.