Couch Potato? Your Brain May Be Smaller Later in Life

If you're not active enough in middle age, your brain may shrink, according to a new study.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found there to be a direct correlation between poor fitness and brain volume decades later.

A total of 1,583 people were enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study, which included MRI scans of the participants to study how exercise affected brain health.

Accelerated brain aging

In people who performed poorly on the exercise tests involved in the study, brain volume was significantly smaller two decades later - which was equivalent to two years of accelerated brain aging.

"The study also showed that people whose blood pressure and heart rate went up at a higher rate during exercise also were more likely to have smaller brain volumes two decades later," a press release on the study stated.

While the study was observational in nature, it does show that fitness may have an important impact on brain health for people who are middle-aged, the study authors concluded.

The research is published in the journal Neurology.

Source: AAN

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