Engaging in regular physical activity can yield immediate advantages for brain health. A recent study showed that middle-aged individuals who remained active daily exhibited improvements in cognitive processing speed, akin to a decline of four years in age, regardless of whether their activities were light or intense.
It is well-established that exercise benefits brain health and lowers the chance of cognitive decline and dementia in the long run. However, new findings from researchers at Penn State College of Medicine reveal the immediate effects of routine physical activity on brain well-being.
The study revealed that middle-aged individuals who participated in everyday physical activities experienced enhancements in cognitive processing speed comparable to being four years younger, whether they engaged in low-intensity activities such as walking the dog or doing housework, or higher-intensity activities like jogging.
The results were published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
“You don’t have to hit the gym to reap the full advantages of being active,” stated Jonathan Hakun, assistant professor of neurology and psychology at Penn State. “Every form of movement is significant. Engaging in everyday activities contributes to the cumulative effects of physical exercise vital for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and it may directly influence cognitive health.”
Most prior studies examining the link between physical activity and cognitive health focused on long-term effects, spanning decades or even months for intervention studies. Hakun expressed interest in understanding the immediate impacts of physical activity on cognitive health.
The research team employed smartphone technology to engage with participants throughout their daily routines using a method called ecological momentary assessment. Participants checked in six times over nine days, roughly every 3.5 hours.
With each check-in, participants indicated whether they had been physically active since their last interaction and rated the intensity of their activity on a scale from light (walking, cleaning) to vigorous (running, fast cycling). After reporting, participants engaged in two “brain games” – one measuring cognitive processing speed and the other assessing working memory, which serves as an indicator of executive function, according to Hakun.
The researchers analyzed information from 204 participants from the Multicultural Healthy Diet Study aimed at lowering cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s risk. These participants, aged 40 to 65, were from the Bronx, NY, and had no prior cognitive impairment. Among them, half identified as Black or African American, while 34% identified as Hispanic.
Results indicated that participants who reported physical activity within the last 3.5 hours demonstrated processing speed increases equivalent to being four years younger. While there was no observable improvement in working memory, the response times during working memory tasks reflected enhancements similar to those seen in processing speed.
“Aging slows us down both physically and cognitively. Here, we suggest that movement can temporarily counteract this slowdown, which is quite promising,” Hakun mentioned. “Even a brief walk or a bit of extra movement can provide a noticeable boost.”
Moreover, individuals who reported being active more frequently experienced increased short-term cognitive benefits compared to those who were less active overall. Hakun noted that this suggests regular physical activity might enhance cognitive health advantages. However, he added that further research is necessary to comprehend how different amounts, frequencies, and timings of physical activity impact cognitive health.
Looking ahead, Hakun aims to combine ecological momentary assessment with activity monitoring devices in future research to better understand the connections between observed physical movement, behaviors, and cognitive results. He also intends to gather data over more extended periods to examine the long-term effects of everyday physical activity on cognitive health against the backdrop of typical aging.
Additional contributors from Penn State to this paper include Daniel Elbich, a data scientist; Tian Qiu, a doctoral student in epidemiology and public health sciences; and Martin Sliwinski, a professor of human development and family studies. Other co-authors comprise Lizbeth Benson, a research assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research; Mindy Katz, a senior associate in the neurology department at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Pamela Shaw, a senior biostatistics investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; and Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, a professor of epidemiology & population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
This study received funding from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health.
