Moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise defined as 70-80% of heart rate reserve for 45-60 minutes 4 times a week for six months was shown to lower the levels of tau protein in the cerebrospinal fuid in adults with mild cognitive impairment.  High tau protein levels in the brain are associated with progression to Alzheimer’s Disease. This is the first study to show solidly that tau proteins can be decreased in the brain by exercise.

Aerobic exercise was further associated with increases in blood flow to areas of the brain that are typically decreased with aging and the onset and progression to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Another reason to exercise regularly.

8th Clinical Trials Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, Abstract OC30, Presented 11/6, 2015

Heart rate reserve – Difference between resting heart rate and heart rate during maximal exercise.

Cerebrospinal fluid –  The fluid that surrounds our spinal cord and brain and circulates in the middle of the brain.

Mild Cognitive Impairment – is and intermediate stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious decline of dementia.

Here’s to the Journey!

(David W. Ball, MD, an Internal Medicine physician,  founder of NuVitality Health – a wellness education company, and co-founder of Life Changing Fitness  – a fitness facility for Every Body)