Elderly people who are physically active may have healthier blood vessels in their brains than do elderly people who aren’t active. Elizabeth Bullitt used magnetic resonance angiography to look at the number and shape of blood vessels in the brains of fourteen physically active people — seven women and seven men — between the ages of sixty and eighty. Half of the participants had exercised aerobically for a minimum of 180 minutes a week for the past ten years. The other half had no history of regular exercise and spent less than ninety minutes a week in any physical activity.

The active group had more blood vessels in their brains. Their vessels also showed less twisting (the brain’s blood vessels narrow and become more twisted as we get older) and were similar to those of younger adults. Future research may determine whether exercise improves anatomy, if older patients with “younger” brains are more likely to exercise, and whether elderly adults who begin an exercise program can reverse their cerebrovascular changes.