Orienteering: New Brain Exercise to Prevent Dementia

The sport of orienteering involves navigational skills, athleticism, and memory. It helps in preventing cognitive decline related to dementia, according to research from McMaster University.

Researchers hypothesized that the physical and cognitive demands of orienteering, which integrates exercise with navigation, may stimulate parts of the brain that our ancient ancestors used for hunting and gathering.

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The brain evolved thousands of years ago to adapt to the harsh environment by creating new neural pathways. Those same brain functions are not as necessary for survival today due to modern conveniences such as GPS apps and readily available food.

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‘The physical and cognitive demands of orienteering provide the brain with the necessary nourishment to survive cognitive decline.’

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Modern life may lack the specific cognitive and physical challenges the brain needs to thrive. In the absence of active navigation, it may have the risk of losing that neural architecture.

Alzheimer’s disease, in which the ability to find one’s way is lost, is one of the earliest symptoms. It affects half of all afflicted individuals, even in the mildest stage of the disease.

In the study published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers surveyed healthy adults, ranging in age from 18 to 87 with varying degrees of orienteering expertise (none, intermediate, advanced, and elite).

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People who participate in orienteering reported better spatial navigation and memory, suggesting that adding elements of wayfinding into regular workouts could be beneficial throughout a person’s lifetime.

The goal of orienteering is to navigate by running as quickly as possible over unfamiliar territory, finding a series of checkpoints using only a map and compass. The most skilled athletes must efficiently switch between several mental tasks, making quick decisions while moving across the terrain at a rapid pace.

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The sport is unique because it requires active navigation while making quick transitions between parts of the brain that process spatial information in different ways. Orienteers must quickly translate that information relative to their positions within the environment as they run.

It is a skill that GPS systems have engineered out of modern life. That may affect not only our ability to navigate but also affect our spatial processing and memory more generally because these cognitive functions rely on overlapping neural structures.

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Researchers suggest there are two simple ways to incorporate more orienteering into daily life: turn off the GPS and use a map to find your way when traveling, and challenge yourself—spatially—by using a new route for your run, walk, or bike ride.

Orienteering is very much a sport for life. After involving themselves in this sport for a long time, it has allowed people to understand the process behind learning navigational skills and has also inspired them to research the scientific significance this sport may have on the aging population.

Source-Eurekalert