The Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Cognitive Function by Age and Gender

The hippocampus is a portion of the brain that is positioned in the forebrain under the cerebral cortex. It is instrumental for regulating memory and emotion, which are thereby related.  The hippocampus is also a part of the olfactory cortex, a part of the cerebral cortex that is vital to the sense of smell -- This is why aromas often bring back memories.

Emotions, aromas, and memory are all interrelated and aerobic exercise can aide the brain in staying healthy, especially  in the parts that regulate these elements. 

Susan Powter taught her fitness audiences that you have to eat, you have to move, and you have to breath - and this is the truth. Proper fuel, aerobic exercise, and breathing properly supplies the human body with better health than junk food, sedentary lifestyle, and shallow breathing on the coach in front of TV or video game.

Oxygen is a miracle cure when applied in HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. Wounds heal faster and more completely and endless positive results for a range of conditions receptive to HBOT shows what oxygen can do for health.

Some cases of ADD/ADHD include a factor that causes a lack of sufficient oxygen to parts of the brain in male children and youth. Without this adequate O₂, the brain is less effective in helping the subject does to exert self control or self mastery. I found in my intensive martial arts classes (2 hours, two to three times weekly), that such students in just the first month to six week become calmer, more focused, better able to concentrate and attend, and more able to problem solve. Body posture became straighter as well. At least 50% of each of these classes is aerobic exercise. Other benefits reveal themselves as well.

Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, can enhance many physical and emotional functions of the human body. The brain and full central nervous system are affected importantly by aerobic exercise, which can increase cognitive function and fight the dimentias and mood disrders. it can counteract many of the symptoms of aging.

Regular aerobic exercise ensures that its benefits continue for up to 1 to 3 weeks after the last session, should the exercise routine be interrupted. Aerobic exercise is cost-free and can reduce healthcare costs in an onging preventive manner. It is vital for all ages, as recognized by the Chinese and adopted increasingly in the West.

Some of the most recent research that supports decades of findings and theories include the following repotrts with my own summaries:

SENIOR CITIZENS

December 2010

Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Kirk I. Erickson, Michelle W. Voss, Ruchika Shaurya Prakashd, Chandramallika Basake, Amanda Szabo, Laura Chaddock, Jennifer S. Kimb, Susie Heob,c, Heloisa Alves, Siobhan M. White, Thomas R. Wojcicki, Emily Mailey, Victoria J. Vieira, Stephen A. Martin, Brandt D. Pence, Jeffrey A. Woods, Edward McAuley, and Arthur F. Kramer. Article approved December 30, 2010.

The hippocampus is an area of the brain that shrinks in late adulthood. This shrinkage results in an impaired memory and a heightened risk for the dementias.

In a controlled study of 120 senior citizens, a schedule of aerobic exercise increased the size of the anterior hippocampus. This resulted in improved spatial memory among the treatment group. The exercise increased the volume of the hippocampus 2% on average and this increase significantly reversed the shrinkage of aging. The average volume of the hippocampus among the control group (no exercise) became even smaller than previous to the study. However, a higher level of physical fitness before the study helped to prevent some of the shrinkage among the control group. Physical fitness seemed to prevent a measure of shrinkage even in the control group.

Results of the study show that consistent aerobic exercise reverses hippocampus shrinkage and prevents memory loss in senior citizens. This has implications for preventing dementias.

January 2010

Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Controlled Trial. Archives of Neurology, January 2010; Volume 67, Number 1; p 71. Laura D. Baker et al.

Six months of intense aerobic exercise affected men and women of an average age of 70 differently in cognition, glucose metabolism, and other bodily functions.

In older women, aerobic exercise improved executive function (decisions, selective tasks) and reduced fasting plasma levels of insulin, cortisol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF protein). Among older men, aerobic exercise increased plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor and had little or no cognitive effect. Aerobic exercise thus far seems to benefit the brains of female senior citizens more than those of senior men.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

February 2011

Aerobic Fitness and Executive Control of Relational Memory in Preadolescent Children. Chaddock, Laura; Hillman, Charles H.; Buck, Sarah M.; Cohen, Neal J. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, February 2011; Volume 43, Issue 2; pp. 344-349.

Children with lower levels of aerobic fitness demonstrate poorer recognition memory in relational coding (related items) than do children that are more aerobically fit. There was no relationship between aerobic fitness and recognition for faces and houses individually.

Human adult and child studies and animal studies show that aerobic exercise positively affects both prefrontal executive control (decision-making and similar selective tasks) and hippocampus functioning.

January 2008

Science and society: Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, January 2008; pp 58-65. Charles H. Hillman, Kirk I. Erickson, and Arthur F. Kramer.

Medical, psychological, and educational research of many years duration shows that physical activity and aerobic exercise enhances the selective tasks that can be performed within the brain. Sedentary lifestyle among children in industrialized nations is a primary cause of obesity, but exercise can help improve physical health and academic performance. Consistent aerobic exercise long-term can favorably impact brain functioning at the molecular, cellular, systems, and behavioral levels.

ALL AGES

2009

Exercise: Optimizing Function and Survival at the Cellular Level. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2009; pp 133-138. A. Russo-Neustadt.

Exercise produces many health benefits to the CNS and can reduce the number of cases of dementia and mood disorders seen. Regular aerobic activity improves cognitive and emotional functions at the cellular level. It improves recovery in injuries to the brain and spinal cord as well. Aerobic exercise is vital in maintaining brain health across the lifespan.