Studies have shown that walking helps improve memory.
A research team at the University of Maryland in the United States had 33 elderly people between the ages of 71 and 85 walk on a treadmill four days a week for 12 weeks.
A treadmill is an exercise device for indoor walking and running.
The research team asked participants to read short texts before and after practice and assess their ability to recall what they had read.
After that, functional self-resonance imaging (fMRI) was taken to compare the connectivity of the default mode network, the frontoparietal network, and the salience network, which controls cognitive function.
The default mode network is a brain region with a high energy consumption of 60-80%, and it functions to empty information and organize information for memory.
The frontal parietal lobe network is a part involved in goal-directed behavior in maintaining and manipulating information necessary for solving tasks where cognitive processing is required.
The salience network is associated with factors that respond to changes in the external environment and is involved in attention and cognitive control processes.
The results of the study showed that the connectivity of the three networks was strengthened after 12 weeks of treadmill walking.
At the same time, my ability to remember and speak what I read has also improved.
The research team estimated that the brain’s white matter, which connects and supports cells in our brain, remodels itself when we do aerobic exercise such as walking, and the connectivity between brain networks is strengthened .
In addition, the research team said, “Mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s dementia occurs when connections between brain networks weaken.
The findings were recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports.
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