Moderate physical exercise shown to improve older adults memory

According to a new study at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois, Rice University, and Ohio State University-shows that one year of moderate physical exercise can increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus in older adults, leading to an improvement in spatial memory.

The project is considered the first study of its kind focusing on older adults who are already experiencing atrophy of the hippocampus, the brain structure involved in all forms of memory formation.

The study appears in the Jan. 31 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).