One of the most important ways to keep your body healthy is by exercising — it has been shown to help prevent chronic disease, lengthen life, ward off dementia, slow cognitive decline and much more. However, the amount of sleep you get may be just as important — at least when it comes to the benefits of exercise and how well your brain functions as you age.
In addition, physically active short sleepers in their 50s and 60s experienced more rapid cognitive decline compared with better sleepers — but only to a certain age. In people age 70 and older, the benefits of exercise on the brain was maintained, despite short sleep. “By age 70 years, the cognitive benefit associated with higher physical activity was maintained over the 10-year follow-up period,” the authors said, without explanation as to why.