Can Gardening, Other Leisure Activities Cultivate a Healthier Brain?
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Engaging in regular leisure-time activities such as gardening, walking, and dancing is associated with a slowing of brain aging by 4 years, new research suggests. Results of a neuroimaging study that included more than 1500 participants show that those who engaged in more physical activity had "larger brain volume, independent of other factors such as age, sex, and education" than those who were inactive, study investigator Yian Gu, PhD, Columbia University, New York City, told Medscape Medical News. The study findings were released on March 5 ahead of the scheduled presentation in April at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2020 Annual Meeting.
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@prabir It has previously been shown that leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) guards against cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer disease (AD). However, data on the association between LTPA and brain MRI measures remain scarce. The investigators conducted a cross-sectional MRI analysis of 1557 older adults (average age, 75 years; 64% women) who were enrolled in the Washington/Hamilton Heights–Inwood Columbia Aging Project study, which was created to assess a community-based, multiethnic elderly cohort.