Exercise can help older adults retain their memories
Pooling data from dozens of experiments let researchers show whose brains benefit the most from exercise

Date:
February 17, 2022
Source:
University of Pittsburgh
Summary:
Conducting a meta-analysis of 3,000 patients over 36 studies
(carefully vetted from more than 1,200 studies in all),
psychologists were able to find that specific exercise helps
episodic memory -- 3 times a week for 4 months, with greater
improvements among those who are age 55 to 68 years.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
We all know exercise is good for us, but that still leaves plenty of
questions.

How much exercise? Who benefits the most? And when in our lives? New
research led by University of Pittsburgh psychologists pools data from
dozens of studies to answer these questions, showing that older adults
may be able to prevent declines in a certain kind of memory by sticking
to regular exercise.


========================================================================== "Everyone always asks, 'How much should I be exercising? What's the
bare minimum to see improvement?' " said lead author Sarah Aghjayan,
a Clinical and Biological Health Psychology PhD student in the Kenneth
P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. "From our study, it seems like exercising about three times a week for at least four months is how much
you need to reap the benefits in episodic memory." Episodic memory is
the kind that deals with events that happened to you in the past. It's
also one of the first to decline with age. "I usually like to talk about
the first time you got behind the wheel of a car," said Aghjayan. "So
you might remember where you were, how old you were, who was in the
passenger seat explaining things to you, that feeling of excitement."
Exercise that gets the heart pumping has shown promise in increasing
brain health, and experiments in mice show that it improves memory --
but studies looking at the same link in humans have come out mixed.

Seeking clarity in the muddy waters of the scientific literature, the
team pored over 1,279 studies, eventually narrowing them down to just
36 that met specific criteria. Then they used specialized software and
no small number of Excel spreadsheets to transform the data info a form
where the different studies could be directly compared.

That work paid off when they found that pooling together those 36 studies
was enough to show that for older adults, exercise can indeed benefit
their memory.

The team, including Aghjayan's advisor Kirk Erickson in the Department of Psychology and other researchers from Pitt, Carnegie Mellon University
and the University of Iowa, published their results in the journal Communications Medicine on Feb. 17.



==========================================================================
Past analyses looking at connections between exercise and memory didn't
find one, but Aghjayan and her team took several extra steps to give them
the best chance of finding a link if one did exist. They limited their
search to particular groups and age brackets as well as a specific kind
of rigorous experimental setup. Another key was focusing specifically
on episodic memory, which is supported by a part of the brain that's
known to benefit from exercise.

"When we combine and merge all this data, it allows us to examine
almost 3,000 participants," Aghjayan said. "Each individual study is very important: They all contribute to science in a meaningful way." Individual studies, however, may fail to find patterns that actually exist because
of a lack of resources to run a big enough experiment. The studies
individually couldn't find a link between exercise and memory -- it took looking at the whole body of research to bring the pattern into focus.

With that much larger pool of participants, the team was able to show
a link between exercise and episodic memory, but also was able to start
to answer more specific questions about who benefits and how.

"We found that there were greater improvements in memory among those who
are age 55 to 68 years compared to those who are 69 to 85 years old --
so intervening earlier is better," Aghjayan said. The team also found
the greatest effects of exercise in those who hadn't yet experienced
any cognitive decline, and in studies where participants exercised
consistently several times a week.

There are still questions left to be answered. The team's analysis
couldn't answer how the intensity of exercise affects the memory benefits,
and there's plenty to learn about the mechanism behind the link. But
the implications for public health are clear: Exercise is an accessible
way older adults can stave off memory declines, benefiting themselves,
their caretakers and the healthcare system, Aghjayan said.

"You just need a good pair of walking shoes, and you can get out there and
move your body." The papers' coauthors include Kirk Erickson, Chaeryon
Kang, Xueping Zhou, Chelsea Stillman, Shannon Donofry, Thomas W Kamarck,
Anna L Marsland and Scott H Fraundorf at the University of Pittsburgh, Themistokles Bournias at Carnegie Mellon University and Michelle Voss
at the University of Iowa.

special promotion Get a free digital "Metabolism Myths"
issue of New Scientist and discover the 7 things we
always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Pittsburgh. Original
written by Patrick Monahan. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sarah L. Aghjayan, Themistokles Bournias, Chaeryon Kang, Xueping
Zhou,
Chelsea M. Stillman, Shannon D. Donofry, Thomas W. Kamarck, Anna L.

Marsland, Michelle W. Voss, Scott H. Fraundorf, Kirk
I. Erickson. Aerobic exercise improves episodic memory in late
adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Communications
Medicine, 2022; 2 (1) DOI: 10.1038/ s43856-022-00079-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220217090610.htm

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