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  • A small study found moderate-intensity exercise was more beneficial for immediate memory performance than other levels of exercise or forms of rest.
  • A small study found low-intensity exercise triggers different brain networks than high-intensity exercise.
  • A large study found that better cardiorespiratory fitness was strongly associated with more gray matter.
  • Similarly, a review of clinical trials found that aerobic exercise protected against brain shrinkage (reducing gray matter).

Moderate intensity exercise can benefit memory performance

  • Large brain scan study found physical fitness was associated with better brain structure and better cognitive performance in younger adults.
  • A small study found greater aerobic fitness was linked to a larger entorhinal cortex (a brain region affected early in Alzheimer's disease).
  • A small study found endurance runners’ brains have greater functional connectivity than the brains of more sedentary age-matched individuals.

Data from a publicly available database of 1206 MRI brain scans from the Human Connectome Project has revealed that physical fitness is associated with better brain structure and brain functioning in young adults.

  • A study found older adults (60+) who engaged in high-intensity interval training for 12 weeks showed significant memory improvement, while those engaging in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise did not.
  • A study involving young adults found greater fitness gains from HIIT were associated with greater increases in BDNF.

A study in which 64 sedentary older adults (aged 60-88) participated in a 12-week exercise program found that those who engaged in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) saw an improvement of up to 30% in memory performance while participants who engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise s

  • A small study involving older endurance athletes found that stopping their exercise for just 10 days was enough to significantly decrease blood flow to several important brain regions.

A small study involving 12 very fit older adults (aged 50-80; average age 61) found that, after stopping their exercise routines for 10 days, there was a significant decrease in blood flow to several brain regions, including the

  • A small study involving physically inactive older adults found that a three-month exercise program reversed some brain atrophy.

A study involving 30 previously physically inactive older adults (aged 61-88) found that a three-month exercise program reversed some brain atrophy.

  • A long-running study involving women only found that regular exercise in middle age was the most effective they could do to prevent later cognitive decline.

A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.

  • A mouse study found that running mitigates the negative impacts chronic stress has on the hippocampus.

Memories are made through a synaptic-strengthening process called

  • A very large study found higher levels of physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables, and not being obese, were all linked to better cognition in younger & older adults.

A Canadian study involving 45,522 adults (30+) found that higher levels of physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables, and having a BMI in the normal weight or overweight range were each associated with better cognitive function in both younger and older adults.

  • Rat study finds running is the best type of exercise for growing new brain cells.

A rat study comparing different forms of exercise has found that running was much more effective than HIIT or resistence training in generating new brain cells.

  • Wearing padded helmets & using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly reduces the risk of head injury.
  • Younger players (under 14) may be more vulnerable to concussion than older ones.

A study which followed 20 members of a youth football team in New Jersey found that wearing padded helmets and using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly cut the chance of head injuries and concussion.

  • A reasonably large study of people with sports-related mild traumatic brain injury found less than half had fully recovered after 14 days.

In a study involving 594 patients with sports-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), only 45% had made a clinical recovery (had no more symptoms) after 14 days. The finding challenges current belief that most people with a sports-related mTBI recover within 10 to 14 days

  • A large study finds weaker handgrip strength is associated with a progressively greater risk of developing severe cognitive impairment.
  • Another large long-running study similarly finds slow walking speeds and weak grip strength is associated with a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
  • Weaker grip strength, in those older than 65, was also linked to a higher risk of stroke.

A large study, involving nearly 14,000 older adults (50+) participating in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study, found that weaker handgrip strength was associated with a greater risk of developing cognitive impairment, especially severe impairment, over the eight-year study period.

A study of 105 female college students found that those with the highest levels of stored iron had the highest grades. Fitness was also a factor, but while the effect of fitness was greater overall than the impact of iron status, both factors together had an even greater effect.

A 2017 review of research has concluded that, although the number of studies into the cognitive effects of the cocoa bean is limited and has produced mixed results, on balance the evidence points to positive cognitive effects from regular intake of “cocoa flavanols”, as well as immediate benefit

Data from the long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, involving 960 participants who completed a food frequency questionnaire from 2004 to 2013, found that those who ate one daily serving of green, leafy vegetables had a slower rate of cognitive decline than people who rarely or never ate th

A large, long-running Finnish study looking at the dietary habits of 2,497 men aged 42-60 has found that a high intake of dietary cholesterol was not associated with the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, even among carriers of the ‘Alzheimer’s gene’ APOE4.

A study involving 99 healthy older adults found that levels of monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with cognitive performance and the organization of the brain's attention network.

Data from 915 older adults (mean age 81.4) participating in the very long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, has found that those who reported eating seafood less than once a week showed greater cognitive decline compared to those who ate at least one seafood meal per week.

A largish Chinese study, involving 541 9-11-year-olds, has found that those who ate fish at least once a week slept better and had higher IQ scores, on average, than those who ate fish less frequently or not at all.

Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, involving 8,574 middle-aged and older adults (aged 45-85), has found that those who ate more vegetables and fruits and more nuts and pulses (such as lentils and beans) scored higher on tests of verbal fluency.

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