Live Younger Longer

Changing your lifestyle improves your brain
Researchers wanted to determine whether exercise and diet
could help people improve their ability to plan, focus, learn
new things and juggle multiple tasks (executive functions),
even once these skills had begun to deteriorate slightly.
They studied a group of adults over age 55 who had some
signs of impairment but not dementia, who were at risk of
coronary artery disease, and who were fairly sedentary. The
study lasted six months. Participants were split up into four
treatment groups:
1. The first group engaged in aerobic exercise three times
a week. The exercise routine consisted of 10 minutes of
warm-up exercises followed by 35 minutes of
continuous walking or stationary cycling. Participants
were encouraged to follow their usual diets.
2. Participants in the second group modified their diets to
follow the guidelines of the Dietary Approaches to Stop
Hypertension (DASH) diet. The DASH diet is similar to
the Mediterranean diet but with an added focus on
reducing salt. These participants met regularly with a
nutrition specialist and were told not to exercise.
3. The third group received instructions on incorporating
aerobic exercise and the DASH diet into their lives, as
detailed above.
4. The fourth group received regular phone calls from a
health educator on heart disease-related topics. These

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participants maintained their usual dietary and exercise
habits.
The researchers measured the participants’ executive
functions before and after the trial. They found that
increasing aerobic exercise and switching to the DASH diet
did indeed improve executive functioning after the trial
period of six months. As you can see from the chart, the
most benefit came when exercise and diet changes were
combined.
When you compare the scores of those who modified their
diet and exercise habits with those who maintained their
usual routine, you can see what a big difference it made.

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