Regular exercise may do more than strengthen the body. New research from Victoria University (VU) adds to evidence that physical activity could also play an important role in protecting the brain from age-related decline, including dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
VU researcher Dr. James Broatch led the analysis, which examined how exercise may influence the glymphatic system, a brain waste clearance pathway that is especially active during sleep. This system helps maintain and regulate brain health, and its role becomes increasingly important with age.
How Exercise May Support the Aging Brain
The benefits of exercise for healthy aging are already well established, but researchers are still working to understand exactly how physical activity protects the brain. Finding those mechanisms is particularly important because more than 10 million people worldwide are diagnosed with dementia each year, and there is currently no cure.
The peer-reviewed paper, "Exercise as a regulator of glymphatic function," was recently published in the journal Trends in Neurosciences. Researchers reviewed existing studies of the glymphatic system in both animals and humans.
