An old woman picks a rose from a farm in Bulgaria. (Photo : Reuters)
A growing number of studies support the idea that physical exercise is a lifestyle factor that might lead to increased physical and mental health throughout life. One recent study suggests that daily exercise might strengthen the motor function of the body when one became older.
Exercise not only steam up the brain making its function sound and synchronized with the body but also may prevent brain damages that eventually restrict the motor function of the body in the latter of part of life.
According to the U.S.News Health, in the study lead by Debra Fleischman, a professor in the departments of neurological sciences and behavioral sciences which was published on 11 March where 167 older adults of average age 80 without dementia participated in the Rush Memory and Aging Project.
The findings published in the Journal Neurology showed the co-relation between physical activity and brain damages.
The purpose of the study was to test whether physical activity has any link between white matter hyperintensity (WMH) and motor function in healthy older persons. But Fleischman cautioned that this study does not harbor any direct relation between physical activities with mobility.
White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are the small areas of brain damage that has been seen through MRI scans of many older patients. According to the researchers higher levels of this damage have been associated to difficulty in walking and other motion related problems.
For the test method, the daily physical activity of each participant was measured with actimetry sensor, a kind of movement monitoring device worn by them over a period of eleven days. The monitoring device on their wrists measured the exercise and non-exercise physical activity. Also eleven other tests of mobility had been conducted on them which further clarified by the researching team after each participant gone through MRI scans which showed the level of white matter hyperintensities in their brain.
The team concluded by the hypothesis that those older adults who exercised the most, even if they had high levels of brain damage i.e. the white matter hyperintensity , maintained good scores on the mobility tests. On the other hand, those who exercised less scored low on the mobility tests which actually was linked with the brain damages.
With reference to the test conducted by Fleischman, Dr. Sam Gandy of Mount Sinai Alzheimer's Disease Research said that he thinks this study are very important as it might help in Alzheimer's and other dementia cases which could be alleviated by physical exercise.
