New research reveals how physical activity boosts brain health as we age.
A brisk walk, a session of water aerobics, or a light jog, any activity that raises your heart rate, can significantly improve brain health, according to new research from the University of South Australia.
In collaboration with the AdventHealth Research Institute in the United States, the study found that engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is strongly linked to enhanced cognitive abilities in older adults, including faster processing speed, improved working memory, and better executive function.
Notably, the most substantial cognitive improvements were observed in individuals who transitioned from doing no moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to performing just five minutes a day. This underscores the powerful impact even brief periods of exercise can have on the brain.
The research analyzed data from 585 older adults aged 65 to 80 years, as part of the U.S.-based IGNITE trial. Researchers examined how participants allocated their time across sleep, sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over a 24-hour period, and how these patterns correlated with cognitive performance.
The Brain–Exercise Connection
Researchers identified a two-way relationship between ‘huff-and-puff’ physical activity and brain health: do more exercise and your brain health improves; but do less and it declines.
UniSA researcher, Dr. Maddison Mellow says the study highlights how small changes to your daily activities can have big impacts on your brain health.
“There are three mutually exclusive lifestyle behaviors in the 24-hour day – sleep, sedentary behavior, and physical activity – and how these interact to influence our health outcomes,” Dr. Mellow says.
“For example, we know that being more active can improve our sleep; or having a better night’s sleep could boost our energy levels to perform physical activity the next day. But what we don’t know is the optimal balance of time spent in each of these behaviors to maximize cognitive performance.
“In this study, we explored how different uses of time impact your brain. We found that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – that is, activity performed at higher intensities that increases your heart rate and breathing – was related to better cognitive performance.
“Specifically, ‘huff-and-puff’ physical activity (like aerobic exercise) improves processing speed (how fast your brain thinks), executive function (how well you plan, focus, and multitask), and working memory (your ability to store information for short periods of time).
“Importantly, the opposite was also true: lower levels of this higher intensity physical activity were related to poorer performance on these tests.”
Consistent Effects, With Some Limits
The findings were consistent across different genetic and demographic backgrounds. Interestingly, the findings did not extend to episodic memory (the what, where, and when details of an event) or visuospatial function outcomes (your ability to recognize places and navigate through spaces).
Co-researcher, Dr. Audrey Collins, says understanding the interplay between different activities could empower older people to make positive health changes.
“There are only 24 hours in a day, so every day, we make decisions about how we spend our time. For example, if we sleep for eight hours, then there are 16 hours remaining for waking behaviors like physical activity or sedentary behavior; that’s the basic reality,” Dr. Collins says.
“Our results show that how we choose to spend our time across the 24-hour day may be differentially related to our brain health.
“Understanding that we need to prioritize physical activity, such as physical activity that gets our heart rates up, according to our findings, is the key.
“With one in six people in the world expected to be 60 years or older by 2030, we need to make sure we are supporting and empowering people to age well.
“In this instance, we hope that knowledge is power: boost your physical activity and boost your brain health to stay fit and well as you age. However, these results are cross-sectional and need to be tested longitudinally and experimentally.”
Reference: “24-Hour time use and cognitive performance in late adulthood: results from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study” by Audrey M Collins, Maddison L Mellow, Ashleigh E Smith, Lu Wan, Neha P Gothe, Jason Fanning, John M Jakicic, Chaeryon Kang, George Grove, Haiqing Huang, Lauren E Oberlin, Jairo H Migueles, M Ilyas Kamboh, Arthur F Kramer, Charles H Hillman, Eric D Vidoni, Jeffrey M Burns, Edward McAuley and Kirk I Erickson, 4 April 2025, Age and Ageing.
DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afaf072
The IGNITE study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA), University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, KS), and Northeastern University (Boston, MA) and involved a large, well-characterised sample of cognitively unimpaired older adults. Participants were, on average, 69.8 years of age, predominantly female (70%), and self-reported as inactive.
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