有氧运动可以改善痴呆症患者的记忆力

The results of a year-long trial led by researchers at UT Southwestern have homed in on how aerobic exercise can improve memory in older subjects with mild cognitive impairment. The findings suggest it is never too late to start exercising as aerobic activity improves blood flow to regions of the brain associated with memory.

美国犹他州西南大学的研究人员领导了一项为期一年的试验，研究结果集中在有氧运动如何改善轻度认知障碍的老年人的记忆。研究结果表明，随着有氧运动改善大脑中与记忆相关区域的血液流动，开始锻炼永远不会太迟。

“We’ve shown that even when your memory starts to fade, you can still do something about it by adding aerobic exercise to your lifestyle,” explains lead author on the new study, Binu Thomas.

“我们已经证明，即使你的记忆力开始衰退，你仍然可以通过在你的生活方式中增加有氧运动来改善它。”这项新研究的主要作者比努托马斯解释说。

The study focused on the long-term changes to cerebral blood flow stemming from aerobic exercise in subjects already presenting with age-related mild cognitive impairment. Thirty subjects – with an average age of 66, no reporting of regular exercise, and signs of memory impairment – were split into two groups.

这项研究的重点是在已经出现与年龄相关的轻度认知障碍的受试者中，有氧运动引起的脑血流的长期变化。将30名平均年龄为66岁，没有定期运动报告和记忆力减退迹象的受试者分为两组。

One group was tasked with completing several aerobic exercise sessions per week for 12 months, while the other group performed stretch and balance sessions designed to strengthen upper and lower body while keeping heart rates low. At the beginning and end of the year-long study MRI scans measured cerebral blood flow in all participants.

一组的任务是在12个月内每周完成几次有氧运动，而另一组则进行旨在加强上下身体同时保持低心率的伸展和平衡训练。在为期一年的研究开始和结束时，核磁共振扫描测量了所有参与者的脑血流量。

After 12 months the aerobic exercise group displayed increased cerebral blood flow to the anterior cingulate cortex and adjacent prefrontal cortex, relative to the stretching group. Memory tests conducted at the beginning and end of the study also revealed a 47-percent improvement in the aerobic group, compared to only minimal improvements in the stretching group. The study notes a direct correlation between improvement on the memory test scores and increases in cerebral blood flow to these key brain regions.

12个月后，有氧运动组与拉伸组相比，大脑前扣带回皮质和邻近前额叶皮质的血流量增加。在研究开始和结束时进行的记忆测试也显示有氧运动组有47%的改善，而拉伸运动组只有很小的改善。这项研究指出，记忆测试分数的提高与这些关键脑区的脑血流量的增加有直接关系。

“Cerebral blood flow is a part of the puzzle, and we need to continue piecing it together,” notes Thomas. “But we’ve seen enough data to know that starting a fitness program can have lifelong benefits for our brains as well as our hearts.”

托马斯说：“脑血流是这个难题的一部分，我们需要继续把它拼凑在一起。”。“但我们已经看到了足够的数据，知道开始一项健身计划可以为我们的大脑和心脏带来终生的益处。”

The cohort studied was indeed small, however, the results are in line with a large volume of prior research affirming the value of exercise in maintaining cognitive abilities in older age. Aerobic exercise seems to confer the greatest cognitive protections, especially in those most at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

研究的人群的确很小，但是，其结果均符合用大量的以前的研究肯定锻炼价值保持认知能力的年龄。有氧运动似乎赋予了最大的认知保护，尤其是在那些最容易患阿尔茨海默氏病的人中。

The researchers note the cohort recruited in the study all reported little to no regular exercise before the trial. The novelty of this particular trial is that it offers an indication that aerobic exercise can confer cognitive benefits even when started at an advanced age, after memory decline has already commenced, and those cognitive benefits may be mediated specifically by improved blood flow to specific regions of the brain.

The new study was published in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

这项新研究发表在《老年痴呆症杂志》上。