Quiz: How Exercise Powers Up Your Brain

Balance moves in tai chi or yoga may improve spatial cognition, a type of thinking that helps you locate and remember points in space. The better you move, the lower your risk of falls and injury. Find out more here about the benefits of balance exercises.  

It’s a win-win: Exercise benefits the brain — and the brain may be a key to keeping us active. Research shows that having stronger cognitive skills in certain areas can make engagement in ongoing exercise more likely. Get the readout on why here, plus tips on how to work out both brain and body.

Physical activity is good for your brain, period. Aerobic activities, like walking and swimming, boost blood flow and reduce inflammation. Strength training and slow movements, like those found in yoga and tai chi, improve flexibility and balance. Find out more here.

Even just a few months of regular yoga can improve attention, memory and reasoning. Plus, yoga is adaptable: People with limited mobility can try water yoga, which is done in a swimming pool, or chair yoga. Find out more about yoga’s brain benefits here.

If you’ve never been active, now’s the time to start. Increasing physical activity in late adulthood can have health benefits similar to being active since early adulthood, per a National Institutes of Health–AARP study.  We have four tips for success here.