Can older people keep their brains sharp as they age? Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association are disappointing.
Neither regular exercise among previously sedentary elders nor fish oil supplements rich in omega 3 fats were able to improve or preserve cognitive function.
Exercise for LIFE?
The exercise study, titled Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (with the clever acronym of LIFE), assigned more than 1,600 sedentary older adults either to moderate-intensity physical exercise or to sessions of health education and arm stretches. Cognitive function was tested at the beginning and end of the interventions, which lasted two years.
There were two group sessions per week, with encouragement to do the exercises at home three or four times in addition. The participants attended almost three-fourths of their sessions.
A Disappointing Lack of Difference:
There were no significant differences overall, but people over 80 who started with poor fitness improved in measures of executive function if they were in the exercise group. Since that is a much smaller group of people-but a really important cognitive ability-this finding will need to be tested more thoroughly in future trials.
It is possible that the exercise intensity was not high enough, and that exercising longer or harder would have shown benefits for the brain. After all, earlier this month the British Journal of Sports Medicine (online Aug. 3, 2015) published a meta-analysis of nine earlier studies showing that even a little moderate to vigorous exercise could boost survival by 22 to 35 percent, with those who exercise the most getting the greatest benefit.
What’s more, exercise is great for improving mood, so even though the LIFE study flopped, it still makes sense to move the body, no matter what age you are.
