New research by Silver Santé experts reveals that older adults participating in physical activity have cardiovascular benefits, through the maintenance of a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and insulin.  This results in greater structural brain integrity and thus improved brain health.

The research assessed whether the association between physical activity and multimodal neuroimaging is impacted by cardiovascular risk factors across 134 cognitively unimpaired adults aged 65+, from the Age-Well study.

Results showed that the association between physical activity and Gray Matter (GM) volume is impacted by changes in insulin and BMI.

Lead author of the paper, Francesca Felisatti from the University of Caen said “Our study has strong implications in helping us to further understand how physical activity affects brain health as we age.  It may also help to develop strategies to prevent, or delay, age-related brain decline.”

The paper has currently been accepted by Neurology and is due to be published later in the Spring.