Keeping Fit May Keep Aging Minds Agile, Study Finds
A recent study links strenuous exercise with positive cognitive benefits in older Americans.
Los Angeles Times:
Intensive Exercise May Keep The Aging Mind Sharp
Older Americans who engage in strenuous exercise are more mentally nimble, have better memory function and process information more speedily than do their more sedentary peers, new research suggests. And as they continued to age, participants who were very physically active at the start of a five-year study lost less ground cognitively than did couch potatoes, according to the study. The latest research, published Wednesday in the journal Neurology, is the most recent study to underscore the importance of moderate to intensive exercise in healthy aging. In addition to keeping diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis at bay or in check, a welter of studies suggests a good workout is powerful medicine for the aging brain, preventing and treating depression and shoring up cognitive function. (Healy, 3/23)
In other news, a university research center and a foundation team up to build a registry of patients with Alzheimer's to help accelerate clinical trials —
The San Francisco Business Journal:
In War On Alzheimer's, Group Deploys New Way To Enlist
Like the journey of a thousand miles, the path leading to an Alzheimer's disease treatment begins with a single step: Getting people through the doors of hundreds of clinical trial sites. Now a program based at the University of California, San Francisco, is teaming up with a global foundation to build out a registry of current and potential Alzheimer's patients from which the right people can be quickly assigned to the right drug studies. (Leuty, 3/23)