How to keep your brain healthy as you age

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The human brain can be constantly transformed. For better or worse, it often depends on the way of life. A new study has shown that physical activity plays a big role in brain health. At the same time, scientists found out what can best affect this most important organ.

As a basis, experts took white matter, which connects and supports brain cells. Its renewal potentially improves the ability to think and remember with age. According to scientists, white matter is able to reconstruct itself when a person begins to be more active. At the same time, in people with a sedentary lifestyle, it tends to thin with age, which can lead to a decrease in cognitive abilities.

According to the study, walking has the best effect on the health of the white matter, and therefore the whole brain. Experts recommend making daily walks a habit. The effectiveness of dancing and stretching exercises in improving brain health was also tested.

As subjects, neuroscientists took almost 250 women and men over 60 years of age who were generally healthy but led a sedentary lifestyle. They were divided into groups, where some began to walk intensively three times a week for about 40 minutes, others started stretching with the same frequency, and others engaged in dancing. Six months later, they returned to the laboratory, where their results were recorded.

Those who walked and danced were in better shape. Brain scans showed that white matter had regenerated, nerve fibers in certain parts of the brain had grown larger, and any tissue damage had diminished. At the same time, participants from the walking group coped more successfully with memory tests. It is also noted that those who did not engage in such physical activity for six months experienced a deterioration in the health of the white matter and a drop in cognitive performance.