It is cold, dark and miserable outside, and we’ll be the first to admit that by the time we get home from work in the evenings, the last thing any of us want to do is lace up our runners and hit the road.
But, according to this latest research, that is absolutely what we should be doing – at least if you want to avoid dementia and early death, which, let’s face it, is pretty much all of us.
In a major new study done by Boston University School of Medicine, scientists have concluded that people with poor levels of physical fitness in their 30s and 40s were likely to have smaller brains two decades later.
Say what? Being lazy actually makes you brain shrink?
Yes, it does.
Being a couch potato and Netflix addict in your 30s and 40s is actually directly linked to cognitive decline, dementia and early death, reports Newsweek. Yikes. And we thought all we had to worry about was the size of our thighs…
In fact, experts think that a sedentary lifestyle accelerates the ageing process, speeding the rate at which the brain shrinks. And brain shrinkage, unsurprisingly, is a major factor in early cognitive decline.
The Boston based scientists analysed medical data from nearly 1,600 people who were tracked over 20 years, and overwhelmingly concluded that people who are unfit in middle age indeed have smaller brains decades later.
The participants underwent a fitness test on a treadmill in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were each aged between 31 and 49. Then, two decades later, the volunteers underwent a series of MRI brain scans and neurological tests. The study, published in the Neurology medical journal, found that those people who had the lowest fitness levels initially were most likely to have smaller brains 20 years later.
Study author Dr Nicole Spartano said: ‘We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging.’
So active lifestyle it is, then. And the good news is that you don’t have to go all out and completely give up on those cozy nights in, in front on Netflix, either.
“Even low intensity exercise in middle age may slow the ageing of cells,” the researchers concluded.
Do YOU get physically active every day? How do YOU fit it into your busy lives? Let us know in the comments or tweet us at @Herfamilydotie (*runs out to sign up at the local gym…)
