Daily movement can boost brain health, new study finds
Benefits can be seen after as little as five minutes of exercise
IN THE NEWS: A new study underscores the importance of daily movement, finding that normally sedentary older adults who incorporated moderate-to-physical activity into their daily lives helped to boost their brain health.
Dr. S. Ahmad Sajjadi, a UCI Health neurologist who specializes in memory disorders, shared his thoughts about the study with Prevention. While he wasn’t directly involved in the research, he spoke about how the findings continue to support the importance of exercise to help protect against cognitive decline as people age.
On top of circulation, exercise releases chemicals that “boost a sense of well-being and cognitive performance.”
In the study, movement vigorous enough to increase one’s heart rate improved the processing speed, executive function and short-term memory of the participants. The benefits were seen after as little as five minutes of activity.
Sajjadi is an associate professor of neurology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He studies neurodegenerative pathologies across the aging spectrum and his research focus includes Alzheimer's disease, primary progressive aphasia, frontotemporal dementia and dementia in the oldest adults.
He is the recipient of multiple National Institutes of Health grants and the author of numerous studies that have appeared in prominent medical journals. He is also the recipient of the inaugural UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) Joan and Don Beall Scholar Award.
Make an appointment at the UCI Health Memory Disorders Program at 714-456-7720.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves nearly 5.7 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).