Walking improves memory power

Almaty. February 1. Kazakhstan Today - A research shows walking for 40 minutes a few times a week boosts memory, the agency reports.

Moderate exercise increased the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain that makes memories, in 120 volunteers, BBC reported.

The year-long trial, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed performance on memory tests also improved. Exercise may buffer against dementia as well as age-related memory loss.

The latest work looked at healthy people in their 60s rather than people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.

But the findings have important implications for ageing societies faced with a dementia time bomb. Even modest exercise may improve memory and help protect the brain from normal decline caused by ageing"

In the UK, 820,000 people have dementia, and this figure is set to double by 2030.

Professor Kirk Erickson and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh in the US set out to investigate the impact that even moderate exercise might have on preserving memory.

They split their 120 volunteers into two groups. One group was asked to begin an exercise regimen of walking around a track for 40 minutes a day, three days a week, while the others were limited to doing simple stretching and toning exercises.

Brain scans and memory tests were performed at the start of the study, halfway through the study and again at the end.

Scans revealed hippocampus volume increased by around 2% in people who did regular aerobic exercise. The same region of the brain decreased in volume by 1.4% in those who did stretching exercises, consistent with the decrease seen in normal ageing.

Both groups showed some improvement over time on memory tests. In the walking group, the improvement appeared to be linked with increased size of the hippocampus.

Professor Erickson said: "We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable. But we've shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure.

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