Lhe 65 men and women aged 55 to 80 who participated in the experiment, however, were sedentary older adults suffering from overweight or obesity, so it is hardly surprising that “very significant results” were found. observed, underlined an expert from the University of Ottawa.
The study conducted by researchers at the University of Western Australia and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute would also have shown that the addition to these morning exercises of short sessions of light intensity walking during the day, in order to interrupt periods of sedentary lifestyle, improves short-term memory.
The Australian researchers asked their subjects to use a treadmill at the start of the day; they also asked some, over the next eight hours, to break their sedentary lifestyle with short three-minute walks. They then measured different aspects of their cognition and concentration, such as attention, decision-making and working memory.
The researchers say they measured in the participants, for eight hours, a higher level of a hormone essential for the survival and growth of neurons.
Yves Lajoie, from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, sees this as an even more fundamental mechanism.
“It’s as simple as saying the brain is more awake, more alert, and when you are more alert you are able to make better decisions,” said Professor Lajoie. As soon as you can increase your arousal level, chances are you will make better decisions. ”
However, he questions the effect observed by Australian researchers throughout the day, recalling that it will depend “on individuals and their physical capacities”.
“If you do 30 minutes of exercise in the morning, there’s no doubt you’ll be ‘sharp’ in the morning,” he said. But if you’re going to sit down at 10 a.m. after your exercise and don’t get up until 4 p.m., I think you’ve fallen back to where you were before. “
His own experiences with healthy seniors testified to the benefits of physical activity: those he asked, for example, to simply walk faster than their preferred pace then had better attention and a longer reaction time. quick.
“Even in the most active we see an effect of physical activity on their attention,” he said. Obviously, exercise allows for better attentional capacity, a better level of alertness, and probably better decision-making. ”
A second study, this one published by researchers at the University of Maryland in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, claims that a single session of physical activity stimulates the brain circuits associated with memory in seniors. A functional magnetic resonance imaging examination showed increased activity – after exercise – in four areas of the brain when subjects correctly recited memorized names, compared to the same task after a period of rest.
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