How To Improve Your Memory If You Are 50+

Start Moving!

For adults age 50+, physical exercise has been shown to improve attention, memory, thinking, planning, and organization regardless of your baseline cognitive status.

This is huge!

We need cognition, or ability to think, know, judge, plan, and remember, to perform our daily tasks such as putting on our clothes, walking down the stairs, paying bills, cooking meals, and driving our car. Our cognition and physical abilities are what give us our independence and allow us to do the things we love or want to do daily.

Aerobic and resistance exercises were found to significantly improve cognition, so what are some of these exercises?

Well think of aerobic exercises as the exercises that improve your endurance and overall strength such as running, jogging, walking, biking, and swimming. Exercises that you can do for an extended amount of time.

Resistance exercises are exercises that use weights or resistance to challenge specific muscles while performing a movement. Some resistance exercises are squats, bicep curls, lunges, and push ups. We use resistance or weights in order to improve a specific muscle's or set of muscles' strength and power.

Now you may be wondering, "so how long do I need to exercise to improve my memory?"

Performing aerobic and/or resistive exercises for at least 45 minutes at a moderate intensity as many times as you can was shown to have the most significant impact on cognition improvement. You can determine the intensity of the exercise you are doing by using the rate of perceived exertion scale or RPE. This scale helps you to determine how difficult or intense the exercise you are doing is by using a scale from 0 to10, with 0 being not intense at all and 10 being very, very difficult or intense. Moderate intensity would be a 3-4/10 on this scale.

So, if you want to improve your memory, attention, planning, thinking, and organization get out and walk or jog! If you are unsure of where to begin or how to start contact us at 202-417-6412 or email at info@laruehealthandwellness.com.

Start moving!,

Dr. LaRue