(Relaxnews) – According to a small Canadian study announced Monday, four months of high-intensity interval training can make middle-aged people not only healthier but smarter.
Researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute enlisted a group of six overweight subjects who also had one or more cardiovascular risk factors. The group trained for four months four times a week: twice a week with high-intensity interval training on stationary bicycles and twice a week with resistance training.
High-intensity interval training involves alternating between short bouts of low- and high-intensity exercises, such as 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds of light jogging.
Researchers also tested subjects for cognitive functioning, VO2max (your body’s maximum capacity to transport and use oxygen during exercise) and brain oxygenation.
"After the program was finished, we discovered that their waist circumference and particularly their trunk fat mass had decreased," says lead researcher Dr. Anil Nigam of the Montreal Heart Institute and University of Montreal. "We also found that their VO2max [and] insulin sensitivity had increased significantly, in tandem with their score on the cognitive tests and the oxygenation signals in the brain during exercise."
The research team presented their findings at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Toronto, which runs October 27-31.