It may sound surprising, but physical exercise can go a long way to helping people maintain their cognitive health and brain volume as they age. Doctors have recommended regular exercise for cardiovascular health for a long time. But studies suggest that some forms of exercise may also help preserve your mental fitness, too.
The CDC recommends that most adults should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week for best results. Incorporating muscle-strengthening activities two days a week is important for every adult. They also recommend that people 65 and older incorporate one activity intended to help with balance.
These recommendations can break down to as little as 22 minutes of moderate activity a day. But if that seems intimidating at first, please know that every little bit helps, and that short workouts are an important first step to longer ones later on.
How does exercise benefit brain health?
Maintaining a solid exercise program seems to help enhance cognition in several important ways. Exercise has been associated with benefits ranging from processing speed to brain volume to protection from oxidative stress and inflammation.
There are several potential reasons that exercise may help preserve cognitive health. For one thing, we know that exercise helps preserve brain volume, and we know that declines in brain volume are linked to declines in cognition.
There’s also a wealth of research showing links between cardiovascular health and cognitive performance. (This is also why heart-healthy diets and brain health diets are basically the same diet.)
The reason for this link may be as simple as “physical exercise improves blood flow, which means that more blood reaches the brain, which helps improve and preserve brain health.” But whatever the reason, the research indicates that physical exercise helps keep your mind sharp as you age.
Aerobic exercise for brain health
There are many different types of exercise, and not every activity is suited to every person. A brisk walk may be restorative for one person, and boring for another. You may find tennis thrilling, while someone else finds it needlessly competitive.
Fortunately, there are all kinds of ways to stay fit. Here are a few exercise options that can offer health benefits as you get older.
Tai chi
Many studies have shown an association between doing tai chi and improved cognitive function in older adults. There may be a few reasons for this. Tai chi combines physical movement and mental focus. The slow, meditative movements require concentration, and practitioners have to learn new skills and memorize new movements.
The most consistent cognitive benefit associated with tai chi is an improvement in executive function. Executive function helps us plan tasks and focus our attention. It also helps with verbal reasoning and with working memory (holding things in our mind that we’re actively using).
Tai chi presents other health benefits as well. For instance, it may also help improve balance, reducing the risk of falls.
Dance
Dancing is a great way to get your cardio in. Like any exercise, it can provide physical and mental health benefits, with the added bonus option of adding a little romance to your workout, if you want it.
As people get older, dance can help provide benefits to muscular strength and endurance, balance, and other important aspects of fitness for everyday life. The type of music and the style of dance don’t matter. Dancing has also been shown repeatedly to provide benefits to cognitive ability!
But dance also has another benefit to one group in particular: People with Parkinson’s disease. Dance for PD is an international program designed to help people with Parkinson’s reconnect with their bodies. It isn’t just about exercise, it’s about finding a sense of grace and the confidence that comes with it. It’s also about finding community with people in a similar situation to yours, all working towards the same thing.
Dance benefits for people with PD include balance, strength, and walking ability. It can also include improved executive function, and better cognitive health. It’s especially exciting that dance has been associated with improved neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to grow and reorganize itself to tackle new situations and challenges.
Dance for PD participants also experienced emotional benefits like reduced depressive feelings and more feelings of self-efficacy. They discovered social benefits, like an increased sense of belonging and social support. All in all, Dance for PD offers people with Parkinson’s a strong array of benefits in an approachable environment.
Strength training for brain health
Exercise recommendations suggest muscle-strengthening activities twice a week. What does that actually look like, and how do we know that it helps?
In one 2023 study, a group of 41 people ranging from 60-80 years were placed into two groups. One group performed resistance training twice a week. They did 4 different lower body exercises, for 3 sets of 6-10 repetitions. The other group did not participate in the resistance training.
Throughout the study, researchers took several measures of strength gains from the resistance training. They also took measures of different neurochemical markers of brain health in three different brain regions - the hippocampus, the sensorimotor cortex, and the prefrontal cortex.
After 12 weeks, they found that people who exhibited signs of strength gains also exhibited signs of “preservation” of brain health. Exercise increased muscle function characteristics, but it also helped prevent cognitive decline. Meanwhile, people in the control group showed signs of deteriorating brain health.
Making the most of your exercise for brain health
We know that aerobic exercise can help preserve your cognitive ability, and we know that resistance training can do the same. But guidelines tell us to combine the two. Recent studies paint a clear picture of why.
In 2025, a group of researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 35 different clinical studies involving a combination of strength training and cardio and how they affect brain health. They were looking for broad patterns and big answers about how exercise and brain health interact.
The 35 studies included a total of 5,734 participants of all age ranges, with and without health issues, from all around the world. They found moderate improvements in cognitive health among people of all ages who exercised, but they found that strongest results in people 65 and older.
They found that combining strength training and aerobic exercise could improve memory, attention, information processing speed, cognitive flexibility, and global cognition overall. They also saw improvement in executive functions like working memory, planning, and inhibitory control - which is a kind of impulse control.
Taking all the data into account, they found that the absolute best results were found in people who prioritized resistance (strength) training, but made sure to include cardio as well, who kept exercising for 4-26 weeks, and who maintained workout sessions of 30-60 minutes.
Keeping your mind healthy
While exercise can provide benefits to your mental sharpness, there are plenty of other ways to care for your brain long-term. Getting enough sleep on a regular basis can help prevent cognitive decline. So too can your diet, both in terms of the foods you choose to eat and additional sources of nutrients like supplements for memory.
You may also want to consider a probiotic for brain health. One great option is Neuralli Cognition+, which combines two different probiotic strains to support cognitive health.
Preclinical studies suggest that MCC1274 may have antioxidant effects and benefits to neuroplasticity. In a clinical trial it was associated with improvements in immediate memory, delayed memory, and visuospatial/construction in people suspected of mild cognitive impairment.
Likewise, PS23 has been associated with improvements to stress regulation and lower limb muscle strength in human studies. It was also shown to accelerate the recovery and improvement of muscle strength after intense exercise.
An animal trial suggests that it may also help support healthy aging by helping maintain cognitive function. It also appeared to support muscle mass in an animal trial, which points towards good news for people trying to exercise to maintain their brains as they get older.
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