Which Exercise Is Best For Your Brain?

No, it’s not news that exercise is good for your brain, but it is news that researchers now know which exercise is best for your brain. That became apparent in a recent study, published in The Journal of Aging Research, for which scientists at the University of British Columbia put three groups of women ages 70 to 80 and with mild cognitive impairment through three exercise regimens. Gretchen Reynolds reports in the New York Times that one group lifted weights twice a week, one group walked briskly, and one group stretched and chilled out. After six months, Reynolds reports, the cognitive function of those in the chill group actually got worse; while the women in the other two groups saw their memory improve. And now the news: Reynolds reports that while both exercise groups improved almost equally on tests of spatial memory, the women who had walked showed greater gains in verbal memory than the women who had lifted weights. Read more in the New York Times.