Protect Your Brain by Exercising

By Lydia Jennings, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability, according to the American Heart Association. It’s even possible to have a “silent stroke,” or a small brain lesion, and not even notice it. However, a new study says that older people who exercise regularly may be less likely to develop silent strokes, which are the first sign of cerebrovascular disease.

“I tell my patients the more you exercise, the better, and the more intense it is, the better – but do it safely,” Joshua Z. Willey, M.D., M.S., of Columbia University in New York and study author, told Ivanhoe.

"These ‘silent strokes’ are more significant than the name implies, because they have been associated with an increased risk of falls and impaired mobility, memory problems and even dementia, as well as stroke," Dr. Willey said. He thinks it’s important to encourage older people to exercise at a moderate or intense level to help keep their brain healthy.

Dr. Willey and his team studied 1,238 people around the age of 70, who had never had a stroke. According to the results, 16 percent of the participants had small brain lesions. Forty percent of the participants who engaged in moderate to intense exercise were less likely to have the silent strokes than those who didn’t exercise regularly. The results remained the same after the researchers took into account other vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

There was no difference between those who engaged in light exercise and those who did not exercise. “Of course, light exercise has many other beneficial effects, and these results should not discourage people from doing light exercise," Dr. Willey said.

Based on the study’s results, Dr. Willey plans to continue counseling patients with tailored exercises based on their health, to help lessen their chance of a silent stroke. However, he stresses that “only if the heart is healthy to do intense exercise.” 

SOURCE: Neurology, published online June 8, 2011