This week’s recommendation comes from:
Cheryl Sandora
English Language Arts Fellow
Cheryl says, “I’ve read numerous studies that explain the positive effects regular exercise can have on our physical health and the specific areas in which exercise is most helpful. An area that isn’t as often discussed in studies on regular exercise is its impact on mental health. This article presents new research led by Pitt psychologists that examined data from dozens of studies and reached the conclusion that ‘older adults may be able to prevent declines in a certain kind of memory by sticking to regular exercise.’ This is great news, especially for those of us in the older adult category!”
Exercise can help older adults retain memories, a Pitt study shows
Patrick Monahan
“We found that there were greater improvements in memory among those who are age 55 to 68 years compared to those who are 69 to 85 years old — so intervening earlier is better.” – Lead author Sarah Aghjayan, a clinical and biological health psychology PhD student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh
Pitt psychologists examined dozens of studies, concentrating on particular age brackets and a specific memory focus, to determine which age group would see the most mental benefit from exercising at certain frequencies. Read on to learn more about the researchers’ process and the specific memory focus they examined.