Exercise that can prevent many problems in old age

“Evolutionarily speaking, we’ve made our brains so big that it’s very expensive to keep them fresh.”

Dr Damian Bailey, director of the Institute of Health and Wellness Research at the University of South Wales in the UK, says: ‘They’re very, very large, very ineffective, and take a lot of energy to maintain even when it’s not working. have been.’

Bailey is the head of the University’s Neurovascular Research Laboratory. He explains that his work is related to physical activity because ‘there is no cure for cognitive decline, but exercise can be a very good countermeasure.’ The big question, he says, is how much, how, and how often to exercise.

“A lot of our work in the lab is looking at different aspects of exercise in terms of type, intensity and duration, and we’re trying to find the best combination where you can get the best performance,” says Bailey.

We know that physical activity increases blood flow to the brain, which helps it release chemicals necessary for growth.

This blood supply is also important because the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential for learning and memory, begins to shrink as we age and receives less blood. Thanks to recent advances in technology, scientists can now really see how physical activity benefits the brain.

These can measure blood flow in the neck, brain and scalp.’ And our research shows that you don’t have to do deep breathing exercises or push yourself to the gym to reap the benefits of the brain. You can do some great exercises that won’t feel like you’re exercising at all and will also stimulate the mind.’

What exercises are these?

‘We’ve found that squatting is a very useful option, especially for people who are not very fit or can’t do vigorous exercise.’ Yes, of course. Squatting is considered a ‘smart’ form of exercise because it challenges the brain, which benefits the brain. ‘When you stand you go against gravity and when you sit you work with gravity.

What happens is that the blood supply to such a brain is constantly up and down and we think that this change in flow activates the vascular endothelium, the inner lining of the blood vessels, and the brain starts getting more blood.’

How long should it take?

Bailey recommends doing this exercise at least three days a week for three minutes. He says that when he sees how quickly blood flow to the brain begins in people who exercise for four to five minutes a day for a month, three days a week, the improvement is clear.

In fact, they report that they see more improvement in 30 to 40 minutes than other forms of exercise such as running, walking or stationary cycling. And you can kill two birds with one stone if you read something or do a crossword puzzle while you exercise because, according to Professor Bailey, ‘we know that we bleed the brain by providing it with ‘cognitive stressors’. can improve delivery.’

Sports can also help

The lack of oxygen the brain experiences in some highly demanding sports may also help push the brain’s limits and understand its defense mechanisms. Since Bailey is a former athlete himself, he is part of his own research. ‘You should practice what you preach.’

“We use a variety of ‘extreme sports’ to challenge the brain to understand these mechanisms in a different way, such as one-breath freediving without oxygen, skydiving with stress,” he says. High and low oxygen, or climbing very high mountains, also high activity while low oxygen.’

They say that we are so sensitive to lack of oxygen that when we go to a very high altitude where the oxygen level is very low, blood flow to the brain increases. ‘The mind is always trying to make up for the lack. It is like walking on a tightrope where the person doing it is trying every moment not to fall.’

Tracking the brain’s response to extreme conditions could not only help treat diseases such as dementia, but also enable long-duration space missions. Bailey says the brain is incredibly sensitive to changes in gravity.

‘Because the gravity in space is very low and the blood is flowing to the head, you see everyone’s face is flushed and their legs are dry.’ And a long-term complication can be that it can increase blood pressure in the brain, which is harmful to vision. This is one of the biggest problems we face and we are doing experiments to understand it so that human flight to Mars is possible.’

Italian researchers at the University of Milan are also investigating this issue. “We thought, ‘What happens when you can’t move?'” says Dr Daniel Botai, from the university’s Department of Health Sciences. Because situations happen, like when people spend too much time on their couches during Covid, or when you’re sick, or in space for months. We worry about our circulation, bones and muscles, but we should also think about the performance of the brain.’

Not moving reduces blood flow to the brain and not getting enough oxygen can have serious consequences. ‘If something starts to go wrong with the brain, you have very little time to stop the damage, so we’re interested in physical activity. “It’s the only solution we have at the moment, and we’re only scratching the surface as far as brains go.”

Isabel Cardoso and Fernando Tejera