Older adults may benefit from physical and mental activity
TUESDAY, APRIL 02, 2013 10:27 AM

Past research has shown that when older adults engage in different forms of activity, their brain stands to benefit. For example, the National Institutes of Health's NIHSeniorHealth website states that regular exercise is important to people's mental health. Now, there is new research that provides more evidence of the powerful effects physical activity can have on the brains of older adults.

In a recent University of California, San Francisco study, researchers worked with 126 inactive older adults who had made complaints about their cognitive abilities. During a 12-week trial, these individuals were asked to engage in different combinations of mental and physical activity.

Overall, there were cognitive improvements across the board. The only problem was this outcome provided researchers with no significant differences between the study groups.

"These results may suggest that in this study population, the amount of activity is more important than the type of activity, because all groups participated in both mental activity and exercise for [60 minutes per day, three days per week] for 12 weeks," said the study's authors. "Alternatively, the cognitive improvements observed may be due to practice effects."

Based on the findings of this study, it is clear different types of activity can influence the brain. As a result, older adults who exercise regularly or challenge their mind may want to take an IQ test.