Back in March, I predicted a fitness boom following a huge Newsweek cover story on exercise and the brain (Brain Improvement to Spark Fitness Boom). I’m still waiting. My own health club hasn’t had an observable influx of older members and, more significantly, I haven’t see any ads that make the link between exercise and brain fitness. Newsweek must be wondering if anyone got the message the first time, because they have returned to the topic with a new, lengthy commentary by Dean Ornish, M.D., Bigger Brains, Better Genes.
Until about nine years ago it was thought that you were born with a certain number of neurons, and they tended to decrease in number as you got older. The best you could hope to do was to slow the rate at which you lost brain cells.
Fortunately, it’s not true. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and at Columbia University showed that older adults continue to generate new neurons at virtually any age. Earlier this year these researchers found that in addition to growing new neurons, exercise doubled blood flow to the brain. A study published last year by researchers at the University of Illinois reported that just walking for three hours per week for only three months caused so many new neurons to grow that it actually increased the size of people’s brains.
Best of all, the region of the brain that grew the most was the hippocampus, the part most involved with memory and cognition. After only three months, those who exercised had brain volumes typical of people who were three years younger! Also, the new neurons tend to find their way to well-established existing connections and replace ones that are damaged or nonfunctioning. Those who showed the most improvement in fitness also showed the greatest enhancement in memory. The authors concluded, “These results suggest that cardiovascular fitness is associated with the sparing of brain tissue in aging humans…”
Other studies have shown that older adults who exercise regularly have better memory, are better at going from one mental task to another, and can focus and concentrate better than those who are sedentary. In other words, exercise makes older people more intelligent.
With this kind of data out there, one would think that health clubs and exercise equipment makers would be targeting middle aged and older customers. This customer group has two important things going for it:
- They are concerned about cognitive decline in later years
- They tend to have lots of disposable income
Pitching this group should be like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. Nintendo’s Brain Age game has been hugely popular, with a lot less research to back up its efficacy. I don’t think fancy neuromarketing analysis is needed – marketers just need a catchy slogan to draw people into the ad, toss out a few study conclusions (complete with Ivy League university names), and show how their program or product duplicates the conditions which caused brain enhancement.
I hate to remind myself (and my readers!) of a failed prediction, but I’m not ready to write this one off completely yet. I think as this information percolates through the world of family physicians, they’ll add it to their justification for telling patients to get more exercise. The combination of avoiding cognitive decline and perhaps even improving brain function may be a lot more persuasive to reluctant patients than the important but more nebulous area of cardiovascular health. The next time I report on this topic, I expect to have some examples of brain-oriented ads for fitness services and products. (Have you seen any? If so, please post a comment or email me.)
I agree completely with your posting. After the Newsweek article I thought I would see more and more with regards to the older population and both mental and physical exercise. My gym has many older members and they do nothing to encourage the mental stimulation that is really needed in concert with the physical stimulation.
If people are looking for REAL science with proven results with regards to “Brain Fitness” they should really look at Posit Science.
http://www.positscience.com/
They seem to be doing very well with a very sounds product.
Enjoy.
Our sentiments exactly so we are developing the “Healthy Body…Healthy Brain” campaign in Alaska. Check out the website and stay tuned for further developments!
Not just gyms and trainers should consider this marketing opportunity, but fitness equipment makers and home gym product manufacturers. Older people have money and space (adult children leaving the next) to create great home gyms where they can work out at their leisure without having to leave the home.
I’m not saying getting a gym membership is bad, but I know many people don’t like gyms, and so the great info in this post also leads me to think that any business in the fitness market should look closely at it.
My guess is that getting older people to exercise is more difficult than it sounds – even in the face of growing scientific support – because of 2 reasons:
Habit and intimidation.
First, we all know how hard it is to break long standing habits, including habits of non-activity.
Second, Beginning a workout regimen is intimidating for someone who has never gone to a gym or exercised seriously. People don’t know what to do or what may be dangerous for them.
I’d say that to increase gym attendance for older people, there should be educational classes on how to work out or discounts on personal training sessions.