Can Daily Mid-Day Walk Improve Brain Health in Middle-Age? Study Sheds Light - Video

Exercise has been shown to improve brain health and reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia over the long-term. But engaging in everyday physical activity has immediate benefits for brain health, according to a new study from researchers in the Penn State College of Medicine. The findings were published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

The team found that middle-aged people who participated in everyday movement showed improvement in cognitive processing speed equivalent to being four years younger, regardless of whether the activity was lower intensity, like walking the dog or doing household chores, or higher intensity, like jogging. The research team leveraged smartphone technology to interact with participants multiple times during their regular daily lives using a protocol called ecological momentary assessment. Over nine days, participants checked in six times a day, approximately every 3.5 hours.

During each check-in, participants reported if they had been physically active since their last check-in. If they were active, they were asked to rate the intensity of their activity light, moderate or vigorous. The team analyzed data from 204 participants who were recruited for the Multicultural Healthy Diet Study to Reduce Cognitive Decline & Alzheimer’s Risk. Data was collected during the study’s baseline period. Participants were between the ages of 40 and 65 and residents of the Bronx, NY who had no history of cognitive impairment. Half of the participants were Black or African American and 34% were Hispanic.

The team found that when participants reported being physically active sometime in the previous 3.5 hours, they showed improvements in processing speed equivalent to being four years younger. While there were no observed improvements in working memory, the response time during the working memory task mirrored the improvements observed for processing speed.

Additionally, people who reported being active more often experienced greater short-term benefits compared to those who reported less physical activity overall.

Reference: Jonathan G Hakun, Lizbeth Benson, Tian Qiu, Daniel B Elbich, Mindy Katz, Pamela A Shaw, Martin J Sliwinski, Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Cognitive Health Benefits of Everyday Physical Activity in a Diverse Sample of Middle-Aged Adults, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2024;, kaae059, https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaae059