A New Study Says Exercise Can Make Your Brain Younger. I've Been Saying So for 25 Years.

By Paul E. Bendheim, MD — Founder of BrainSavers; board-certified neurologist and Clinical Professor of Neurology, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix; author of The Brain Training Revolution: A Proven Workout for Healthy Brain Aging

Not long ago, the health publication Verywell Health called and asked me to weigh in on a new piece of research. The study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, asked a simple question: what does aerobic exercise actually do to the aging brain? The answer they found is one I’ve been talking about for a quarter of a century — and it’s worth sharing with you.

What the Study Found

Researchers followed 130 healthy adults for a full year. They took brain MRI scans at the start and again 12 months later, and estimated each person’s “brain age” — how old the brain looks on a scan compared to the person’s actual age.

The result was striking. The people who did regular aerobic exercise — the ordinary kind that gets your heart going, done consistently over the year — had brains that looked about one year younger than the people who didn’t exercise. In a single year, movement bought them a measurable amount of brain youth. You could see it on the scan.

Why Exercise to Make Your Brain Younger Is No Surprise to Me

When I founded BrainSavers, this kind of thinking was dismissed as voodoo science. I was taught in medical school — as every physician of my generation was — that the brain was hardwired, that starting around age 40 it simply began to unravel, and that there wasn’t much you could do about it. That was the dogma.

Then, beginning about twenty-five years ago, scientists made a series of remarkable discoveries. They found that the adult brain is plastic — that you can actually change its architecture through how you live. We call this neuroplasticity, and it is one of the two principles on which this company was built. The other is cognitive reserve: live a brain-healthy life and you raise the threshold at which decline sets in.

Here is something I tell every audience, because most people have never heard it: the brain is the only organ that demonstrably improves in function with age. Yes, we slow down a step in processing new information. But the older brain is more knowledgeable, more emotionally steady, and often more creative — provided we take care of it. This new study is one more piece of hard evidence for what neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve have been telling us all along.

It’s Not Rocket Science

When Verywell Health asked me what people should actually do with findings like exercise to make your brain younger, I gave them the same answer I give my patients:

“It’s not rocket science; it’s moving, it’s eating a healthier diet, managing stress, getting good sleep, socializing and actually using your brain.”

Aerobic exercise is the first of the six lifestyle pillars we built BrainSavers around — physical exercise, cognitive exercise, socialization, stress reduction, healthy nutrition, and good sleep. Each one has independent evidence behind it. But exercise is where I always start because the science is strongest, and the barrier to entry is lowest. You don’t need a gym or special equipment. You need a pair of comfortable shoes and the willingness to keep showing up.

What This Means for You

The guideline the researchers followed is one you may already know: about 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity. That’s roughly 30 minutes, five days a week, at a pace where you can still talk but not quite sing. A brisk walk qualifies. So does dancing, swimming, or cycling.

Notice, too, that the adults in this study weren’t only seniors — many were decades away from any thought of memory trouble. That is the whole point. The changes that lead to cognitive decline begin quietly, years before the first symptom, and the brain responds to good habits at every age. Whatever your age today, it is the right age to start.

I have spent my career telling people that they are not simply passengers on the journey of their own brain aging. This study is one more reason to believe it. Your brain is listening to how you move. Give it something good to hear.