Fitness, aging and neurocognitive function

In this manuscript we provide a brief review of the recent literature that has examined the relationship among fitness training, cognition and brain. We began with a discussion of the non-human animal literature that has examined the relationship among these factors. Next we discuss recent epidemiological studies of the relationship between physical activity and fitness and cognition and age-related disease such as Alzheimer's dementia. We then discuss the results of randomized clinical trials of fitness training on human cognition. Finally, we conclude with a review of the nascent literature that has begun to employ neuroimaging techniques to examine fitness training effects on human brain. In general, the results are promising and suggest that fitness may serve a neuroprotective function for aging humans. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.