Sweat Equity for the Mind

Denise Spensley watched helplessly as her mother in-law battled dementia for almost a decade, so she’s doing all she can to ensure her family doesn’t go through that experience again.

The retired teacher was a participant in a groundbreaking longitudinal study by The University of Queensland (UQ) that found a period of high-intensity interval exercise improves brain function in older adults for up to 5 years.

Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute led the study in which volunteers participated in physical exercise and had brain scans – the first controlled study of its kind to show exercise can boost cognition in healthy older adults, and not just delay cognitive decline.

“The research sought to find the answers I was looking for, such as how much exercise I should be doing as I head into old age, and what the benefits of that exercise are for the body and the mind,” Mrs Spensley said.

“My husband’s mother battled with vascular dementia, so the fact that something as simple as regular exercise can boost cognitive function is such an exciting discovery.”

She joined a large cohort of healthy 65 to 85-year-old volunteers in 2017 on a six-month exercise program, while undergoing biomarker and cognition testing as well as high-resolution brain scans.

Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett (far left) and Dr Daniel Blackmore put Denise Spensley through her paces.

During the study, UQ researchers assessed the impact of 3 exercise intensities, which were tailored to each volunteer’s fitness levels:

  •    low – predominantly motor function, balance and stretching
•    medium – brisk walking on a treadmill
•    high – four cycles running on a treadmill at near maximum exertion.

When the researchers followed up with the volunteers 5 years after the program, they all still had good cognition, even if they hadn’t kept up with the exercises.

Incredibly, the high-intensity interval exercise group had retained the cognitive improvements they’d gained during the program.

“All 3 groups were very cognitively healthy and there were some improvements in the low- and medium-intensity groups,” Dr Blackmore said.

“But the cognitive changes that were happening in the high-intensity group meant that we could see what mechanisms were involved and how that could guide us for future studies.

"On high-resolution MRI scans of that group, we saw structural and connectivity changes in the hippocampus, the area responsible for learning and memory.

“We also found blood biomarkers that changed in correlation to improvements in cognition.

“Biomarkers can be useful in predicting the effectiveness of the exercise a person is doing.”

Mrs Spensley has maintained her exercise regimen and fitness levels in the years since the study ended and has convinced her husband Peter to train with her.

“My husband and I now train with an exercise physiologist, which has helped with motivation,” Mrs Spensley said.

“Given my husband’s family history of dementia, we exercise for different reasons.

“I have no problems exerting myself to a high level, combining weight training with cardiovascular training, and it's given me a lot of confidence.”

According to Emeritus Professor Bartlett, the study aimed to discover whether exercise could improve cognition in the healthy population as a starting point.

“What we’ve found is that 6 months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flick the switch,” he said.

“Aging is one of the biggest risks for dementia – the second leading cause of death in Australia and a condition that affects almost half a million people.

“One in 10 people over the age of 65 – and one in 3 people over the age of 85 – will develop dementia.

“If we can change the trajectory of aging and keep people cognitively healthier for longer with a simple intervention like exercise, we can potentially save our community from the enormous personal, economic and social costs associated with dementia.”

Emeritus Professor Bartlett and Dr Blackmore worked in collaboration with Honorary Professor Stephan Riek and The School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at UQ, and the research has received ongoing support from the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation.

Dr Blackmore said the findings can inform exercise guidelines for older people and further research could assess different types of exercise that could be incorporated into aged care.

"We are now looking at the genetic factors that may regulate a person’s response to exercise to see if we can establish who will and who will not respond to this intervention,” he said.

For Mrs Spensley, the results from the study were an indication that what she had always believed was now backed up by science.

“My husband and I have always had a philosophy that exercise is really important, both for our physical and mental wellbeing,” she said.

“We now have the knowledge – backed by world-leading experts – of how exercise can benefit us as we head into old age, as well as our children and our extended family.”

This content was paid for and created by the University of Queensland. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.

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