Researchers from the University of Queensland have found that high-intensity interval training significantly enhances brain function in older adults, with cognitive gains that last for up to five years. Led by Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore, the study supports the idea that such exercise could not only improve but also maintain cognitive performance in older adults, potentially reducing the risks and costs associated with dementia.
High-intensity interval training improves cognitive function in older adults for up to five years.
Researchers from the University of Queensland conducted a longitudinal study demonstrating that high-intensity interval exercise can enhance brain function in older adults for up to five years. In the study, led by Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore from the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, participants performed physical exercise and underwent brain scans.
In healthy older adults, high-intensity exercise has been shown to improve cognition, with improvements maintained for up to five years.
Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett discusses what the research tells us about exercise and brain function. Photo courtesy of the University of Queensland
Professor Bartlett said this was the first controlled study of its kind to show that exercise can not only slow cognitive decline but also boost cognition in healthy older people.
“Six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flip the switch,” says Professor Bartlett. “In previous pre-clinical studies, we have found that exercise activates stem cells, increases the production of neurons in the hippocampus and improves cognition. In this study, a large cohort of healthy volunteers aged 65-85 took part in a six-month exercise programme, took biomarker and cognitive tests and underwent high-resolution brain scans. We followed them up five years after the programme and, incredibly, their cognition was still improving, even though they hadn’t continued exercising.”
Implications and future research
Ageing is one of the biggest risks for dementia, with approximately half a million Australians affected.
“If we can change the trajectory of ageing through simple interventions like exercise, and keep people cognitively healthy for longer, we have the potential to save our communities from the enormous personal, economic and societal costs associated with dementia,” Professor Bartlett said.
Dr Daniel Blackmore explains what level of activity the study is targeting. Photo courtesy of the University of Queensland
Emeritus Professor Bartlett and Dr Blackmore conducted the research in collaboration with Emeritus Professor Stephen Leake and Queen’s University’s School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences.
During the study, researchers evaluated the effects of three exercise intensities.
- Low – Mainly motor function, balance, stretching
- Moderate – brisk walking on a treadmill
- High – 4 cycles on a treadmill at near maximal effort
Dr Blackmore said only high-intensity interval exercise produced improvements in cognitive function that lasted for up to five years.
“High-resolution MRI scans of this group showed changes in the structure and connectivity of the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory,” Dr Blackmore said. “We also found blood biomarkers that changed in correlation with improved cognitive performance. Biomarkers can help predict the benefits of the exercise a person is undertaking.”
With one in three people aged 85 at risk of developing dementia, Dr Blackmore said the implications of this research could be far-reaching.
“Our findings may inform exercise guidelines for older people and further studies could evaluate different types of exercise that could be incorporated into elderly care,” he said. “We are now looking at the genetic factors that influence a person’s response to exercise to see if we can distinguish between those who will respond to this intervention and those who will not. The use of biomarkers as diagnostic tools for exercise also warrants further investigation.”
Reference: Daniel G. Blackmore, Mia A. Schaumberg, Maryam Ziaei, Samuel Belford, Xuan Vinh To, Imogen O’Keeffe, Anne Bernard, Jules Mitchell, Emily Hume, Grace L. Rose, Thomas Shaw, Ashley York, Markus Barth, Elizabeth J. Cooper, Tina L. Skinner, Fatima Nasrallah, Stephan Riek, Perry F. Bartlett, “Long-term improvements in hippocampal-dependent learning capacity in healthy older adults following high-intensity interval training,” 2024, Aging and Disease.
DOI: 10.14336/AD.2024.0642
This research has received continuing support from the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation.
