HEALTH

Doing moderate exercise several times a week is the best way to keep the mind sharp if you’re over 50, research suggests.

Thinking and memory skills were most improved when people exercised the heart and muscles on a regular basis, a review of 39 studies found.

This remained true in those who already showed signs of cognitive decline, say Australian researchers.

Exercises such as Tai Chi were recommended for people over 50 who couldn’t manage other more challenging forms of exercise, according to the study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Poor sleepers are more likely to suffer heart attacks or strokes, say researchers in China. They analysed the health data of more than 160,000 people and found difficulty getting to sleep led to a 27% rise in risk compared to those without insomnia symptoms.

People who kept waking up during the night had an 11% increase in risk, while non-restorative sleep was associated with an 18% increase. Get help with sleep problems via the NHS Choices website.

Losing your sense of smell can put you at a higher risk of death, a study claims.

Swedish experts looked at 1,774 people aged between 40 and 90 for 10 years, giving them a series of smell tests.

They calculated that each additional correctly identified odour lowered the risk of dying by 8%.

Dr. Jonas Olofsson, senior author, said in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society: “Our results were not explained by dementia, which was previously linked to smell loss.

“Instead, mortality risk was uniquely predicted by smell loss. In future research, we will try to pinpoint the biological processes that can explain this phenomenon.”

ANDREW GREGORY is the Mirror’s Health Editor