Exercise so effortless you’ll have no excuse

small changes we urge you to make to inject lots more movement into your everyday life.

All the research agrees that there’s little worse for your brain’s long- term health than a sedentary desk-bound life topped off by an evening slumped in front of the TV.

Anything that reduces blood flow (such as long periods of inactivity) reduces brain function, especially in the areas of the brain that govern short-term memory.

Sedentary behaviour has been repeatedly associated with many chronic diseases, including cognitive impairment, and studies show the number of hours you spend sitting is proportional to your increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

What a healthy brain needs is movement throughout the day in short bursts, ideally every hour. So the factor to address first is the number of hours you spend sitting each day.

We now have standing desks in our office (standing up is much better for your brain than sitting) and a mini exercise machine that we jump on at intervals throughout the day.

We nip out for a brisk walk most lunchtimes and we have frequent short breaks to do strengthening exercises such as press-ups and sit-ups. Now it’s completely normal for both of us to take one minute out of every hour and do as many sit-ups as possible.

At home in our living room we have a stationary bike which we use when watching TV in the evening, a set of weights and resistance bands, a mat, a small step stool (for step-ups) and enough space for press-ups and sit-ups.

You don’t need any of this equipment to get started, but you do need to do whatever it takes to incorporate more movement into your day and reduce the stagnating time spent sitting.

Aim to get into the habit of standing up to take any phone call, or, better still, walk and talk. When friends suggest meeting for coffee, suggest a walk, instead. If the weather is bad, window shopping at a large covered shopping centre works just as well.

Stop using the car for short trips, do a few situps before getting out of bed and squats when you are brushing your teeth. Research has shown that leg strength in particular is linked with better cognitive function, possibly because strong legs help blood circulate up to the brain.

So, just regularly working to strengthen the legs with a few partial squats while holding on to a chair is enough to have a significant positive effect on the brain.

If you have an exercise bike, drag it out of the garage and position it in front of the TV, or pick up a mini pedal exerciser (available online for about £20) to use under your desk, or in place of your footstool so you can get your legs going round when you’d be otherwise inactive.

Set an alert on your phone to ping every hour to remind you to run through a series of simple squats (stand up from your chair and lower yourself repeatedly so your bottom almost touches the chair before standing again), stretches, or press-ups against the wall.

This might call for a bit of creative thinking about the way you work, but it is worth investigating the possibility of a standing desk.

Take the stairs rather than the lift at every possible opportunity, never sit when you can stand, never stand when you can walk, or walk slowly when you can swing your arms and walk quickly. Now, you’re ready to add proper exercise into the brain-boosting mix.

TAKE IT UP A NOTCH

ANY form of activity that gets your heart pumping is great for the brain.

As we age, we lose brain cells and the connections between them weaken and fail. A lot of evidence, however, shows that aerobic exercise (which raises your heart rate) can enhance connectivity throughout the brain, improve thinking power and protect against dementia in general and Alzheimer’s in particular.

Aerobic activity seems to boost not just the number of connections, but the strength and connectivity of each of them, and is crucial if you are going to be able to recall memories as you get older. If too many connections fail, you’ll lose your cherished memories for ever.

We now know that the brain can continue to grow into middle and even older age and exercise appears to be the most significant lifestyle factor when it comes to generating new cells in the brain. Studies show that any movement — even fidgeting — triggers the synthesis of chemicals which act like fertiliser for the brain cells.

Having strong muscles, and using weights or adding a little bit of resistance training should, ideally, form part of your exercise mix, too.

Studies show weight training improves reasoning and attention skills and stops the formation of cholesterol plaques, thereby increasing the supply of essential nutrients to the brain.

Whatever you choose to do, the important issue, for the sake of your brain, is to do something.

It is too easy to make excuses and wriggle out of exercise, but protecting your brain against

Alzheimer’sCommit to doing requires some exerciseform of movement everyto be a priority. day. It doesn’t matter if you’re walking, jogging, cycling, dancing, swimming, nipping up and down the stairs, doing star jumps or repeatedly stepping on and off your bottom step.

If you really don’t feel in the mood, start doing something anyway, and do it for at least five minutes. Any exercise is better than none

We have found with our patients that the best results occur when activity, movement

and exercise become completely habitual and intertwined with your daily life.

n ADAPTED from the Alzheimer’s Solution: A Revolutionary Guide to How You Can prevent And Reverse Memory Loss by dr dean Sherzai and dr Ayesha Sherzai, published by Simon & Schuster on October 5 at £14.99. Order a copy for £10.49 (valid until October 7, 2017) at mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640. Free p&p on orders over £15.