I promise this has nothing to with that cheesy TV ad featuring Smiling Bob and his friends who are envious of his anatomy.
But when it comes to the hippocampus, a brain structure vital to certain types of memory size really does matter. And researchers at the University of Illinois have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit.
Theirs is a clinically significant finding because it supports the notion that your lifestyle choices and behaviors may influence brain shrinkage in old age. If you stay fit, you retain key regions of your brain involved in learning and memory.
An impairment of spatial memory is one of a number of reasons [loss of strength and muscle, being another] why older people end up losing their independence. It is yet more evidence that becoming fit has implications for how well youre going to live your life.
