One-Hour Exercise, Three Times a Week May Boost Cognition in Older Adults

A review of 98 randomized clinical trials published in Neurology: Clinical Practice suggests an average 52 hours of exercise over six months may optimize cognitive improvement in older adults, reports MedPage Today . That translates into about 60 minutes of exercise three times a week, say the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Joyce Gomes-Osman and colleagues. "The constructs of cognition that were most amenable to exercise were processing speed and executive function," Gomes-Osman notes. "This is an encouraging result because those two constructs are among the first that start to go with the aging process." Gomes-Osman's team reviewed 4,612 relevant studies, and included 98 trials with 11,061 participants. Subjects were 73 years old on average and 67.58 percent were female. Of the total sample, 59.41 percent were healthy older adults, while 25.74 percent had mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 14.85 percent had dementia. Most studies used either high- or medium-intensity exercise. Aerobic exercise, strength training, mind-body exercises, and combinations of exercises were all associated with improved cognitive skills in both healthy participants and those with MCI. Only the total length of time over a six-month period was connected to better cognitive skills, not weekly exercise minutes. Most participants did not exercise regularly prior to trial, so Gomes-Osman says this data also "strongly supports that decreasing sedentary behavior is something associated with brain health."