Research

Mixed

Short-term aerobic exercise (12 weeks, 3 sessions/week) improves immediate and delayed memory, increases resting cerebral blood flow in the anterior cingulate and hippocampus, and enhances cardiovascular fitness in sedentary adults aged 57-75.

If you are a sedentary adult over 57, start with 3 one-hour aerobic sessions per week (walking or cycling) at a moderate intensity (50-75% of your max heart rate). You can expect improvements in memory and brain blood flow within 3 months, which may help counter age-related cognitive decline.

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We found higher resting CBF in the anterior cingulate region in the physical training group as compared to the control group from T1 to T3. Cognitive gains were manifested in the exercise group’s improved immediate and delayed memory performance from T1 to T3... Additionally, the two cardiovascular parameters, VO2 max and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) showed gains, compared to the control group.
Sandra B. Chapman et al. · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · 2013

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with objective MRI and cognitive measures, though sample size is small (n=37).

Source

Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging

Sandra B. Chapman et al. · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · 2013

DOI 10.3389/fnagi.2013.00075

rct · n=37Cited 378×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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