Exercise Can Improve Brain Function Within 3 Months In Stroke Patients

Physical therapy, aerobic and strength training have become a low-cost intervention to treat cognitive deficits in stroke survivors.

Highlights

Structured physical activity training significantly improved brain function in stroke patients.
Cognitive abilities can be enhanced even when physical activity is introduced after 3 months of diagnosis.
Previous studies on healthy aging and dementia populations have found that aerobic exercise by itself is enough to improve cognition.
Combined strength and aerobic training programs yielded the largest cognitive gains.

Structured exercise program can significantly improve brain function in stroke survivors, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2017.

Studies estimate that up to 85 percent of people who suffer a stroke will have cognitive impairments, including deficits in executive function, attention and working memory.

How to Deal with a Stroke - Signs - Symptoms - Risk Factors - Prevention
Stroke is a brain attack, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. It affects all age groups; according to the WHO, 15 million people are affected by stroke annually.

‘An exercise program of strength and aerobic training for twelve weeks is effective at improving cognition and even patients with chronic stroke can experience improvement in their cognition with an exercise intervention.’

Because there are no drugs to improve cognitive function, physical activity - such as physical therapy, aerobic and strength training - has become a low-cost intervention to treat cognitive deficits in stroke survivors.

Stroke is a "brain attack", which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. The blood flow to the brain cell decreases resulting in lack of oxygen and nutrient supply. This causes necrosis and death of brain cells. This type of stroke caused by the blockage of blood vessel in the brain or neck is called an ischemic stroke and is the most frequent cause of stroke.

Facts on Stroke

Stroke – Early Warning Signs - Risk Factor - Rehab - Treatment
Stroke can cause permanent disability and it is important to recognize its early warning signs to stop its progress. Early warning signs of stroke include sudden weakness of facial muscles.

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, and the leading cause of long-term disability.
According to the World Health Organization, 15 million people across the world suffer from stroke ever year, of which 5 million die and 5 million are permanently disabled.
Every two seconds, someone in the world suffers a stroke.
Every six seconds, someone dies of a stroke.
Every six seconds, someone’s quality of life will forever be changed – they will permanently be physically disabled due to stroke.
As per research, 80 percent of the stroke cases are preventable. Need of the hour is to spread awareness about risk factors and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Effect of Physical activity on Cognitive Function

In a meta-analysis of 13 intervention trials that included 735 participants, researchers analyzed the effects of various types of physical activity on cognitive function among stroke survivors.

Benefits of Aerobic Exercises
Aerobics is a physical exercise that includes activities like dance, cycling, running, stretching and many more. Aerobic exercise can benefit your health in many ways.

They found that structured physical activity training significantly improved cognitive deficits regardless of the length of the rehabilitation program (i.e., training longer than 3 months as well as from 1 to 3 months led to improvements in cognitive performance).

The researchers also found that cognitive abilities can be enhanced even when physical activity is introduced in the chronic stroke phase (beyond 3 months after a stroke).

Exercise - Benefits - Planning - Workout-Schedule - Tips to Lose Weight
It is important for us to understand the power of daily exercise. Only then can we motivate ourselves to inculcate the habit of exercise on a daily basis.

"Physical activity is extremely helpful for stroke survivors for a number of reasons, and our findings suggest that this may also be a good strategy to promote cognitive recovery after stroke" said lead author Lauren E. Oberlin, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh.

"We found that a program as short as twelve weeks is effective at improving cognition, and even patients with chronic stroke can experience improvement in their cognition with an exercise intervention."

The researchers analyzed general cognitive improvement, as well as improvement specific to areas of higher order cognition: executive function, attention and working memory. Exercise led to selective improvements on measures of attention and processing speed.

The researchers also examined if cognitive improvements depended on the type of physical activity patients engaged in. Previous studies on healthy aging and dementia populations have found that aerobic exercise by itself is enough to improve cognition, but the effects are increased when combined with an activity such as strength training.

Consistent with this work, the authors found that combined strength and aerobic training programs yielded the largest cognitive gains.

"Integrating aerobic training into rehabilitation is very important, and for patients with mobility limitations, exercise can be modified so they can still experience increases in their fitness levels," Oberlin said.

"This has substantial effects on quality of life and functional improvement, and I think it's really important to integrate this into rehabilitative care and primary practice."

Reference

Lauren E. Oberlin et al., Exercise can significantly improve brain function after stroke, AHA/ASA International Stroke Conference 2017 (2017).

Source-Medindia