Cecily O'Connor
RedwoodAge.com

Boomers who exercise to shed pounds or burn off steam may realize an added benefit: a stronger brain.

Physical exercise may help protect against mild cognitive impairment, a disorder of the brain that affects nerve cells involved in thinking abilities, according to a Mayo Clinic study presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Chicago.

One possible explanation is that activity could induce chemicals to protect brain cells. Another possibility relates to the positive interaction between exercise and a healthy lifestyle, researchers said.

As part of the study, researchers randomly identified 868 individuals, aged 70 to 89 years. Of those, 128 had mild cognitive impairment and 740 were "cognitively normal." Individuals with mild impairment can function reasonably well in everyday activities, but often have difficulty remembering details of conversations, events and upcoming appointments.

Most - but not all - patients with mild impairment experience a progressive decline in thinking abilities;  Alzheimer's disease, which continues to advance as boomers age, is usually the cause.

Mayo Clinic researchers also gathered data on the individuals' physical exercise between the ages of 50 and 65 and one year prior to the survey. They found that moderate physical exercise two to five times per week during the ages of 50 to 65 was associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment. However, the individual's exercise habits one year prior to the survey did not appear to be associated with a reduced risk.

"While the benefits of exercise are well documented for improving overall health, this is one of the first studies to specifically look at whether it can help protect against the development of mild cognitive impairment," said Yonas Endale Geda, a Mayo Clinic neuropsychiatrist and the study's lead researcher.

Confirmation Needed
Still, the findings need to be replicated in a prospective cohort study, according to Geda.

"Regarding the mechanism of action of physical exercise and mild cognitive impairment, we speculate that either exercise induces chemicals that protect brain cells, or exercise is simply a marker for an overall healthy lifestyle, or there is some positive interaction among exercise, healthy lifestyle and intellectually stimulating activity," Geda said.

Geda said the team will continue following the participants to determine if the case-control study finding will hold true in further studies.

Meanwhile, separate research presented at the annual meeting also examined memory loss as part of lifestyle habits. For example, researchers at the Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., found that people who were heavy drinkers developed Alzheimer's 4.8 years earlier than those who were not heavy drinkers. And heavy smokers developed the disease 2.3 years sooner than people who were not.