Research
Mixed
Higher levels of physical activity are linearly associated with larger total cerebral brain volume and hippocampal volume in older adults, suggesting a structural preservation mechanism.
Regular physical activity helps maintain the physical size of your brain, specifically the hippocampus, which is critical for memory. This structural preservation is observed linearly with activity levels, meaning more activity generally correlates with larger brain volume in older adults.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
PAI was also linearly related to total brain and hippocampal volumes (β ± SE = 0.24 ± 0.06; p < .01 and 0.004 ± 0.001; p = .003, respectively).
Why this rating
Strong observational data with MRI validation, but still observational.
Source
Physical Activity, Brain Volume, and Dementia Risk: The Framingham Study
Zaldy S. Tan et al. · The Journals of Gerontology Series A · 2016
DOI 10.1093/gerona/glw130
cohort · n=3714Cited 208×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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