Author: Laura Sanders / Source: Science News
SAN FRANCISCO — For some older people, the brain boosts from exercise can be almost immediate. Improvements in their thinking abilities after a single 20-minute bout of pedaling a stationary bike mirrored those produced by three months of regular exercise, according to a preliminary study presented March 24 at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.
In addition to being good news for people who struggle with lofty workout goals, the results suggest that the short-term benefits may predict who will benefit from long-term exercise.
The similarity between a single bout of exercise and months of training “suggests we don’t have to wait three months to see an improvement,” cognitive neuroscientist Michelle Voss of the University of Iowa in Iowa City said. “We can get a day-by-day boost.”
Voss and her colleagues enlisted 34 people with an average age of 67 to undergo brain scans, memory tests and exercise. In the first part of the study, she and her colleagues were looking for effects of a single 20-minute stint on a stationary bike, designed to be rigorous enough to make people sweat. Participants were huffing and puffing, but could still talk during the workout.
Before and after exercising,…
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