Get your blood pumping

Although any exercise is good, aerobic workouts may be the best for brain health. A study from Wake Forest School of Medicine showed that the brain volume was higher in elderly people who participated in aerobic exercise than in people who just stretched. The aerobic exercisers also saw their cognitive function improve over a six-month period. “Research shows that aerobic exercise increases blood flow in the hippocampus, the memory region of the brain,” says neuroscientist Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas. “This is also the area most affected by Alzheimer’s, so you are strengthening a vulnerable part of the brain.” Check out more ways exercise makes your brain better.