Five minutes of exercise doesn’t sound like a lot, but according to new research, if you choose the right kind of exercise, you can boost your brain health, especially in adults over 60.
The study, published in Age and Aging found that, rather than long exercise sessions, short bursts that raise your heart rate can help enhance cognitive performance. One exercise in particular was found to be most effective: brisk walking.
Researchers analyzed data from 585 adults between the ages of 65 and 80, all of whom participated in the longitudinal IGNITE trial.
The scientists examined the participants’ sleep habits, physical activity levels, and sedentary behavior over 24 hours and compared this with their cognitive performance.
The results showed that people who did more physical activity had better brain health, and that a less active lifestyle could be linked to a decline in cognitive functions. Yet when they looked into the data further, they found that doing just five minutes of exercise that raised participants' heart rates, such as a brisk walk, swimming, or jogging, was linked to better cognition.
When participants completed more moderate-to-vigorous exercise, they had better processing speed (how fast your brain thinks), executive function (how well you focus and multitask,) and working memory (your ability to store information for short periods).
According to the results of the study, “moving from one minute of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day to [around] six minutes per day had the largest predicted differences in the domains of executive function/attentional control, processing speed, and working memory.”
Any time you raise your heart rate, you increase the rate of blood flow to the brain in the body. Exercise and movement are proven to be good for brain health.
What are the benefits of brisk walking?
When we talk about brisk walking, we mean walking at a speed that raises your heart rate. You should be breathing heavier, but you should be able to maintain the pace for the entire five minutes. You could always mix this brisk walk in with a warm-up and cool-down at a more leisurely pace to make a longer walking workout.
There are several health benefits to walking — it can boost your cardiovascular fitness, help you build or maintain muscle, lose weight, and as this study found, help your cognitive function.
When it comes to walking with good form, think about keeping your torso upright by engaging your core, sucking your belly button into your spine. If you’re just getting started, you’ll need a comfortable pair of sneakers. It can also be helpful to strap one of the best fitness trackers to your wrist to help keep track of your progress.
Remember, any movement is better than none, so why not add just five minutes of walking to your day to reap the rewards.
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