Neurocognitive aging and cardiovascular fitness: recent findings and future directions
Abstract
In the first century, ce, the Roman satirist Juneval famously observed Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano, or "A sound mind in a sound body is something to be prayed for." This implicit link between mental and physical health, also paralleled by Eastern philosophies and practices such as tai chi, has survived the millennia since Juneval and his contemporaries. More recently, controlled examinations of the effects of physical fitness on cognitive performance have shown that improving cardiovascular fitness (CVF) can help to reduce the deleterious effects of age on cognition and brain structure. Thus, as we age, it may well be the case that a sound mind is a natural concomitant of a sound body. Numerous cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have examined the effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in aging humans since earlier studies, which found that physically fit older adults performed better on simple cognitive tasks than their less-fit counterparts. This base of knowledge recently has been furthered through examinations of cortical structure (Colcombe et al., 2003) and neurocognitive function in aging humans via functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging techniques. In this manuscript, we will briefly review some of our recent research on the effects of CVF on brain function, structure, and behavior in older adults. We will then outline some of our current and future directions in this area.
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- Authors
- Colcombe, S. J., Kramer, A. F., McAuley, E., Erickson, K. I., & Scalf, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kramer, Arthur F.
- Venue
- Journal of Molecular Neuroscience
- Published
- 2004
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 009-014
- ISSN
- 0895-8696 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2100316611
- Cited by
- 214
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 3.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Molecular Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (AG-18008, R01AG018008, R37AG025667)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- neurocognitive aging, cardiorespiratory fitness, aerobic exercise, older adults, cognitive performance, brain structure, cortical structure, mind-body problem, physical fitness and cognition
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Animals, Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory Disorders, Neuronal Plasticity, Physical Fitness
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