Dr. Richard Harvey, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, says the study, based on experiments with laboratory mice, appears to indicate that there is a link between exercise and brainpower. Or, as one expert put it, "that morning run or brisk daily walk could be storing brain power for our later years."
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, to which you need a subscription online, says researchers found test mice who had run about three miles in a wheel found their way quickest through a maze. Those who had not had that sort of exercise got lost and confused.
The research has been led by scientist Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at La Jolla University, who was the first to show that human brain cells can regenerate. Gage says the new work confirms growing evidence that physical inactivity can lead to brain degeneration.
Keep well and keep up on the latest information affecting your health with the Long Life newsletter available at the ThirdAge Newsstand.
