Laziness Could Lead to Smaller Brain Size

Being a couch potato now may mean a smaller brain in the future.

A new study by the American Academy of Neurology said that poor physical fitness for middle aged people may be linked to smaller brain sizes 20 years later.

More than 1,500 people enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study. These people had the average age of 40 and did not have dementia or any heart disease. Two decades later the same people took part in the same tests including a treadmill test and an MRI brain scan.

"We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging," said study author Nicole Spartano, PhD, with Boston University School of Medicine in Boston.

Exercise capability was collected by how long the participants could exercise on the treadmill before heart rates reached a certain level.

“For every eight units lower a person performed on the treadmill test, their brain volume two decades later was smaller, equivalent to two years of accelerated brain aging,” the study explained.

People whose blood pressure and heart rate went up at a higher rate during the workout were also more likely to have a smaller brain two decades later.

"While not yet studied on a large scale, these results suggest that fitness in middle age may be particularly important for the many millions of people around the world who already have evidence of heart disease," Spartano said.