PUT THE BRAKES ON BRAIN AGEING
Good news for the time-pressed: just six minutes of cycling can slow the pace of mental decline – even more efficiently than longer cardio sessions
About a year after deciding to invade Iraq based on false intelligence claims, George W Bush injured his knee, forcing him to abandon his favourite pastime, running. So he took up cycling instead, security detail in tow. ‘When you ride a bike and you get your heart rate up,’ he told a reporter in 2004, ‘after 30 or 40 minutes, your mind tends to expand.’ Bush might have been wrong about many things, but on the cognitive benefits of cycling, he was prescient. If only he were a PT, not the 43rd president of the United States…
We will, however, make one key correction. Because the latest research shows that cycling’s mental boost kicks in long before the half-hour mark. According to research published in The Journal Of Physiology,a six-minute high-intensity bike workout each day could protect your brain from age-related decline and potentially delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
In the study, scientists at
New Zealand’s University of Otago explored how nonpharmacological interventions, such as fasting and exercise, could influence the production of BDNF, a specialised protein linked to your brain’s ability to grow and rewire itself. They found that a brief burst of cycling at close to maximum effort can significantly raise levels of BDNF; moreover, a short, sharp session had far more impact than 20 hours of fasting, and up to five times the effect of slower, prolonged cardio workouts.
The lesson learned? A brief exertion’s capacity for holistic, long-term health benefits should never be misunderestimated. Go nucular on cognitive decline.