Want to improve your language and memory skills? Start exercising says latest study

As we get older, many of us find it harder to recall the exact word, phrase or saying than we used to. While our ability to retain new information peaks in our 20s, it unfortunately  begins to decline in our 50s and 60s.

However, there is good news as new research suggests that increasing physical fitness will improve language comprehension in older adults but only if they are monolingual, that is they only speak one language.

Researchers from the University of Adger in Norway and the University of Birmingham in the UK found that older monolingual adults who completed a six-month exercise program were quicker at completing language comprehension tests compared to a control group who abstained from exercise.

The results, published in Ageing, Neuropsychology and Cognition showed that monolingual older adults who followed a simple exercise program for six months were seven per cent quicker at detecting words in language tests.

Previously research has focused on areas like attention and processing speed and one cross-sectional study reported a positive relationship between a clinical trial and language production in older adults.

However, the study’s co-lead author, Dr Katrien Segaert, said it was the first study she knew of that established a causal link between improving fitness and language processing.

“Language processing is an important and interesting area of study. The ability to communicate is such a key function in everyone’s daily life,” Dr Segaert said.

“The results in the monolingual group show that increasing fitness is related to better cognition which underlines how important regular exercise is for healthy ageing.

“The exercise regime that participants followed was not complicated or demanding, and we saw that many of the participants were able to complete the program by making simple adjustments to their daily routine, for example incorporating a brisk uphill walk into their day.”

The research team followed 80 older English monolinguals and 80 older Norwegian-English bilinguals who were put into two groups, one who engaged in light exercise and another group who abstained from working out.

They assessed language comprehension for all participants before and after the six month study took place and found that monolinguals in the exercise group compared to the control group were faster in comprehension following the exercise regime.

However, there was no relationship with test scores and exercise for bilingual participants and the results were very similar to the control group, even though the test was conducted in the bilingual speakers’ native language.

Fellow co-lead author Dr Eunice Fernandes said the differing results between the monolingual and bilingual participants was very likely due to the different cognitive demands involved in language processing when adding a second language.

“It’s important to note that there was no detrimental impact of improving fitness among the bilingual group, and it underscores existing studies which show that there is something more complex going on in bilingual brains when it comes to language processing that wasn’t affected by this intervention,” Dr Fernandes said.

These findings are encouraging for many of us older monolinguals who need a bit more motivation to start exercising and research closer to home could show you the best type of fitness regime to keep your brain healthy.

A recent longitudinal study has highlighted a specific form of exercise that can enhance brain function in older adults for years.

As part of the study, Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute had volunteers between 65 and 85 years of age perform exercises before undergoing brain scans.

In conjunction with Honorary Professor Stephan Riek and The School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at UQ,  Bartlett and Blackmore assessed the impact of the following three exercise intensities:

• Low – predominantly motor function, balance and stretching
• Medium – brisk walking on a treadmill
• High – four cycles running on a treadmill at near maximum exertion

Blackmore said it was high-intensity interval exercise that led to cognitive improvement that was retained for up to 5 years with Bartlett confirming that “six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flick the switch”.

“In earlier pre-clinical work, we discovered exercise can activate stem cells and increase the production of neurons in the hippocampus, improving cognition,” Bartlett added.

“In this study, a large cohort of healthy 65 – 85-year-old volunteers joined a six-month exercise program, did biomarker and cognition testing and had high-resolution brain scans.

“We followed up with them 5 years after the program and incredibly they still had improved cognition, even if they hadn’t kept up with the exercises.”

After examining MRI scans of participants, researchers saw “structural and connectivity changes in the hippocampus, the area responsible for learning and memory”, according to Blackmore.

“We also found blood biomarkers that changed in correlation to improvements in cognition,” Blackmore added.