Regular exercise ‘can offer brain health benefits in adults’

A new study has provided further evidence of the positive impact that regular exercise can have on mental health among adults.

Carried out by scientists at New Zealand's University of Otago and the UK's University of Birmingham, the research used near-infrared spectroscopy to show a link between physical activity and anterior frontal oxygenated haemoglobin levels in healthy young women.

Of the 52 people involved in the trial, those who exercised on a regular basis had higher oxygen availability in the anterior frontal region of the brain, allowing them to perform better on difficult cognitive tasks.

This offers further evidence that oxygen availability positively relates to brain health and function, and underlines the strong connection between physical and mental health.

Dr Liana Machado, senior author of the study, said: "Our findings suggest that regular engagement in physical activity may improve brain functioning even in young adults in their prime. Both blood supply to the brain and cognitive functioning appear to benefit from regular exercise."

This comes after a Canadian review recently offered new evidence that sedentary lifestyles can have a negative impact on a person's health and risk of disease, increasing the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early death.