Physical Activity in Teens Linked to Mental Skills in Late Life

06 July 2010

A study has linked exercise in teen years to better mental ability later in life

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

How active you are early in life may affect how able-minded you are late in life. That was the finding of a new study of cognitive impairment, or a loss in mental abilities.

The study involved more than nine thousand women in the United States over the age of sixty-five. They answered questions about their level of physical activity as teenagers and at age thirty, fifty and late in life.

Laura Middleton of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Canada led the study.

LAURA MIDDLETON: "People who were physically active on a regular basis had lower risk of cognitive impairments in late life. But it seemed that teenage physical activity was particularly important in terms of the prevention of cognitive impairments."

Speaking by Skype, Laura Middleton noted two long-lasting effects that physical activity can have on teenagers. Exercise could help strengthen the blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to the brain. Also, physical activity is known to improve the brain's ability to repair itself.

The study is in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Women who said they were physically active even once a week showed less cognitive impairment as measured by a test. There was not a strong link between the amount of physical activity and the extent of impairment. But the link was strongest among those who were active as teenagers.