Brain Maintenance

One way scientists study brain health is to compare chronological age to biological age. This helps them to understand what aspects of lifestyle and general health impact brain aging trajectories.

Researchers examined the brain age of 739 Swedish 70-year-old participants who showed no signs of dementia or neurological disorders. They used AI to analyze MRI brain scan data. Prior research indicates that high blood pressure, alcohol consumption, and smoking contribute to more rapid brain aging.

This study demonstrated that:

• Older-looking brains were associated with sedentary lifestyle, inflammation, high glucose levels, diabetes, and stroke,
• Participants with older-looking brains also had poorer cognitive outcomes, and
• Younger-looking brains were associated with greater physical activity, even in participants with obesity.

Takeaway: Preservation of brain integrity is known as brain maintenance, and this study demonstrates that exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness are neuroprotective against brain aging.

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Source

Anna Marseglia, et al., Biological brain age and resilience in cognitively unimpaired 70‐year‐old individuals - Marseglia - Alzheimer's & Dementia - Wiley Online Library, Dec. 20. 2024.