Once again, research shows that cardio exercise makes the brain younger.
No matter what your size or age, you absolutely must do aerobic exercise if brain health is important to you.
A study from the AdventHealth Research Institute found that adults who followed a consistent aerobic routine for a full year ended up with brains that looked almost a year younger than those of people who didn’t change their activity levels.
One year younger may not seem significant, but the study subjects had been exercising for only one year, too!
Imagine how much younger your brain would be than your sedentary peers’ after doing cardio exercise for 10 years!
How Scientists Measure Brain Age
The study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science (2026), focused on brain age.
Researchers estimate brain age using MRI scans, comparing how old the brain appears to how old a person actually is.
When a brain looks older than expected, it’s reflected in a higher brain-predicted age difference, or brain-PAD.
Previous research has linked higher brain-PAD scores to poorer physical and cognitive performance and even a higher risk of early death.
The encouraging news here is that brain age appears to be changeable.
How the Study Was Done
The trial followed 130 healthy adults between 26 and 58.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups.
One group followed a moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise program.
They completed two supervised 60 minute workouts each week and added at-home exercise to reach about 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week. This matches current exercise guidelines.
The other group continued with their usual routines without changing their activity levels.
Researchers measured brain structure with MRI scans and assessed fitness using peak oxygen uptake at the beginning of the study and again after 12 months.
What Changed After 12 Months
People in the exercise group showed a drop in brain age, meaning, their brains looked younger than when they started.
On average, their brain age decreased by about 0.6 years.
Meanwhile, the control group showed a small increase in brain age of about 0.35 years.
While that change wasn’t statistically significant on its own, the gap between the two groups came out to nearly a full year.
The Average of 0.6 Years Is Significant
At mentioned, less than a year may not seem like any big deal.
But researchers say even small shifts in brain age can have meaningful long-term effects.
Past studies suggest that each extra year of brain aging is associated with worse health outcomes later in life.
From that perspective, nudging the brain in a younger direction during midlife could add up over decades.
To figure out why exercise had this effect, the team examined several possible explanations.
They looked at improvements in fitness, changes in body composition, healthier blood pressure and levels of BDNF, a protein that supports brain plasticity.
While fitness levels clearly improved, none of these factors fully explained the reduction in brain age — which was surprising.
The findings suggest exercise may influence brain aging through other pathways, possibly involving inflammation, blood vessel health or subtle structural changes in the brain that current measures don’t fully capture.
Why Midlife May Be the Sweet Spot
Many studies on brain health focus on older adults, after noticeable brain changes have already occurred.
This study took a different approach by targeting people in early and mid-adulthood.
The idea is prevention. Slowing brain aging earlier in life may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia years down the road, before serious problems begin.
Get Hopping — Cardio Exercise Is NOT Built Into Your Life
A big mistake would be to assume, “Oh, I already get plenty of aerobic exercise chasing after my kids,” or, “I get a good heart workout rushing around on the job.”
You must make dedicated time slots to aerobic exericse, which is exactly what was done for the study subjects.
These kinds of studies don’t ask the participants, “Do you have several kids under age seven?” or, “Are you on your feet all day at work?” or, “Do you do a lot of housework every day?”
Instead, they have one group perform structured exercise during dedicated time periods, while the control group changes nothing in their daily lives.
Childcare, housework and high step totals at the workplace are not a form of structured cardiovascular exercise — even though there may be occasional brief moments in which you’re suddenly dashing on your feet.
Aerobic exercise should be done for at least 20 minutes nonstop, according to the American Council on Exercise, as part of the 150 minutes a week guideline.
If you want a younger brain, or younger “brain age,” then you need to make consistent aerobic exercise time slots a part of your week to week life — from now on.
- Cardio classes at the gym
- Cardio machines
- Outdoor walking, jogging, hiking, inline skating
- Cross country skiing
- Snow shoeing
- Pickleball, tennis, basketball
- Karate classes
