【NewsQuest=Reporter Kim Hyung-geun】 In March 1946, nearly a year following the end of World War II, the Medical Research Council of the UK was in England, Wales and Scotland in the same week. A lifelong longitudinal study was initiated with 5362 babies born in (週) to follow their health and development.
Today it is regarded as the world’s longest-running birth cohort study. The surviving participants will soon turn 77 this year. Since then, there have been 24 follow-up contacts with them, and an earlier test of all at the age of 69.
A previous study using data from a 1946 British birth cohort demonstrated beneficial effects of physical exercise on verbal memory during middle age in participants.
The reason why exercise is most needed in middle age is to improve cognitive function
Afterwards, the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Aging, affiliated with University College London (UCL), investigated how the timing of physical activity affects cognitive function in old age.
The researchers checked the participants’ levels of physical activity at follow-up at the ages of 36, 43, 53, 60 to 64, and 69, respectively.
Each age group completed a questionnaire to rate how often they participated in sports, active leisure activities, or exercise in the preceding month.
Divided into inactive (not inactive for a month), moderately active (participating 1-4 times a month), and most active (participating 5 or more times a month), then 5 rating groups, 0 points (inactive at any age) to 5 points (active at any age) to create scores between them.
The research team assessed cognitive function at age 69 using the validated ACE-111, which tests attention and orientation, verbal fluency, memory, language, and visual and spatial function.
They also used verbal memory tests (word learning tests) and processing speed (visual retrieval speed) tests to analyze the association between cognitive function and levels of physical activity.
In particular, the research team wondered whether physical activity is most beneficial for improving cognitive function later in life, when performed at specific ‘sensitive’ periods throughout the course of life, or when performed over multiple periods.
No matter what kind of exercise you have to do consistently, you will see a big cognitive function effect.
The results of a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry suggest that continuous physical activity for 30 years following becoming an adult has a positive effect on later cognitive function. Show convincing evidence.
Essentially, the researchers found that regular leisure time physical activity, regardless of the type of exercise at any age during adulthood, was significantly associated with better brain function later in life.
The key to this study is that continuing to exercise into adulthood is the best way to maintain mental acuity and memory.
In particular, those who reported being physically active were more likely to have higher cognitive abilities, better verbal memory, and faster processing speed than others, particularly at the age of 69.
“These findings, taken together, suggest that the initiation and maintenance of physical activity in adulthood may be more important than the frequency or timing of physical activity during specific periods,” the researchers concluded.
The research team acknowledged some limitations that might not be explained because this study was an observational investigation.
In addition, all participants were white, and the participation of the socially underprivileged was small. Also, no clear data were collected on whether the participants actually adhered to the intensity or duration of the physical exercise they performed.