All posts tagged: aerobic exercise

Better fitness in your 40s and 50s linked to a longer, healthier life

Better fitness in your 40s and 50s linked to a longer, healthier life

Researchers have found that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) during midlife provides a greater benefit than just living longer. It also means that the onset of serious illnesses is delayed. This is one of the main points of a new study published in JACC, the American College of Cardiology’s flagship journal. The study found that those who had higher levels of CRF during middle age not only lived longer, but also experienced major chronic diseases later in life and spent more years living in good health. When looking at these results, it is important to separate living longer from living longer without any major chronic disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, cancer, etc. Cardiorespiratory fitness, or CRF, refers to how efficiently your heart and lungs supply oxygen for physical activities. For many years, it has been established that individuals with higher levels of CRF have a lower risk of dying from heart disease or other illnesses that might result in an early death. Now we see that CRF in midlife is also related to what …

20 minutes of cycling can make your brain fitter

20 minutes of cycling can make your brain fitter

Even a brief time spent on a bedside pedal device has positively impacted an area of the brain related to memory, according to recent research published in Brain Communications. In a study involving 14 participants suffering from medically intractable epilepsy, researchers recorded activity in the brain before and after the participants engaged in approximately 20 minutes of light to moderate cycling. After cycling, the participants showed a higher incidence of fast electrical bursts (known as “ripples”) in the hippocampus. This is a well-known brain structure involved in learning and memory. For several years, scientists have been researching these ripples and their role in helping the brain sort and organize new information and replay memories. However, this study was unique because the authors were able to view the patterns directly in a human brain via intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). This is an uncommon type of monitoring used for patients undergoing pre-surgical evaluation. Exercise has physiological effects throughout the body, including on brain activity. In the current study, participants aged 17–50 who were evaluated for epilepsy surgery at …