psychiatry<\/a> with the\u00a0Rutgers New Jersey Medical School\u00a0and a core faculty member of the Herbert and Jacqueline\u00a0Krieger Klein Alzheimer\u2019s Research Center\u00a0within the\u00a0Rutgers Brain Health Institute, led the\u00a0study, published in the\u00a0Journal of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\nThe researchers studied 93 healthy women ages 20 to 67, with 43% classified as post-menopausal.<\/p>\n
All participants began the study with below-average cardiorespiratory fitness levels and were not regularly exercising \u2013 making the results directly relevant to typical midlife and older women, not only those who are already active.”<\/p>\n
Sharon Sanz Simon, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School<\/p>\n
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two six-month programs: aerobic exercise or a stretching-and-toning program. The researchers measured cognitive performance to track changes in executive function across the trial timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cPost-menopausal women who completed aerobic exercise showed greater improvements in executive function \u2013 measured through standardized assessments of task-switching speed and error management \u2013 compared to women in the stretching group and more than pre-menopausal women doing the same aerobic program,\u201d Sanz Simon said. \u201cWe observed measurable cognitive gains at three months into the program, and those benefits continued to strengthen through the six-month trial period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most women were able to stick with the program: about 8 in 10 completed at least three months and about 7 in 10 completed the full six months. The improvement was specific to executive functions. Other thinking skills, such as memory or processing speed, didn\u2019t show the same gains in this study.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany women report easier time switching between tasks, better ability to plan and organize, improved focus and mental flexibility, and feeling sharper in daily activities,\u201d Sanz Simon said.<\/p>\n
Drawing on the results from the study, BHI experts outline a practical aerobic exercise approach: three to four one-hour sessions per week, sustained for at least three to six months. Each session includes a 10- to 15-minute warm-up and gentle stretching, followed by 45 minutes of continuous moderate aerobic activity. Suitable activities include brisk walking, light jogging, cycling, elliptical training, swimming or water aerobics, and dance-based cardio. Consistency matters more than the specific activity chosen. Gradual intensity progression is recommended.<\/p>\n
A detailed, evidence-based toolkit translating these findings into clear steps \u2013 including intensity guidance, adherence strategies, and safety notes \u2013 is available from the Rutgers Brain Health Institute.<\/p>\n
The study draws from a multi-institutional collaboration including Rutgers New Jersey Medical School\u2019s Department of Psychiatry, the Krieger Klein Alzheimer\u2019s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine\u2019s Institute for Aging Research, Columbia University\u2019s Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, Endocrinology, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Cognitive Neuroscience Division and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.<\/p>\n
The researchers said further research will continue to unpack how lifestyle interventions can preserve cognitive health across the lifespan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Regular aerobic exercise \u2013 the kind that gets your heart pumping \u2013 can improve important thinking skills called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1596,3248,134,2862,17350,3193,12932,111,139,69,15155,1600,1518,3405],"class_list":["post-587977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain","tag-exercise","tag-health","tag-heart","tag-medical-school","tag-medicine","tag-menopause","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-physical-activity","tag-psychiatry","tag-research","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}