How to reverse engineer brain aging?
You might already know that as you age, your muscles start to shrink. But did you know the same thing happens to your brain? Fortunately, there’s a way to combat this.
Studies indicate that intense exercise can help prevent brain shrinkage and even restore brain size and function. Much like your muscles, your brain can begin to lose volume in your 30s and 40s unless you actively work to maintain it. This loss accelerates in your 50s and 60s, potentially leading to a 1 to 2 percent reduction per year in the hippocampus, the area of the brain crucial for memory and cognitive processes.
However, research has shown that high-intensity aerobic exercise can actually increase the volume of your hippocampus by 2 percent, countering the typical effects of aging. This might be due to a protein called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which increases with intense exercise and acts like a miracle grow for the brain, enhancing memory, focus, and mental well-being.
The intensity of exercise is relative to your fitness level, so monitoring your heart rate is a practical way to gauge effort. To find your maximum age-related heart rate, subtract your age from 220. For example, a 40-year-old would have a maximum heart rate of 180 beats per minute (220 - 40). To incorporate higher-intensity workouts into your routine, aim for at least one or two sessions per week where your heart rate reaches 70 to 85 percent of your maximum.
