Metroholica

Experiencing occasional memory lapses and reduced ability to pay attention? Fret not. Start doing aerobic exercises daily, for, a new study has found that it gives adults a boost in mind power.
“Aerobic exercises that improve cardiovascular fitness, also help boost cognitive processing speed, motor function and visual and auditory attention in healthy older people,” lead author Maaike Angevaren said.
In their study, the researchers at University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands evaluated 11 randomised controlled trials, comprising 670 adults aged 45 and older, which examined the effects of aerobic exercise on the areas of cognition including cognitive processing speed and memory.
All the participants exercised aerobically between two and seven days for three months on an average – and underwent fitness and cognitive function tests.
The study found that participation in aerobic exercise programmes increased the participants’ VO2 max, an indicator of respiratory endurance, by 14 per cent, The Cochrane Library journal reported.
In fact, improvements in cardio-respiratory fitness coincided with improvements in cognitive function, especially motor function, cognitive speed and auditory and visual attention, when the participants were compared to a group of nonexercising adults or adults in yoga. ANI