Aerobic exercise training increases cerebral blood flow in postmenopausal women

Background: Age-related decrease in cerebral blood flow is a risk factor for cognitive decline. Aerobic exercise training improves vascular and cognitive functions. However, the effect of exercise training on age-related reduction in cerebral blood flow is unclear. The present study investigated whether aerobic exercise training can increase cerebral blood flow in postmenopausal women. Methods: Twenty healthy postmenopausal women were assigned to either the exercise training group (n = 10) or the control group (n = 10). The exercise group completed 8 weeks of moderate aerobic exercise intervention. The control group did not change their physical activity level. Before and after each intervention, middle cerebral blood flow velocity and cerebrovascular resistance were measured using transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. Results: The baseline middle cerebral blood flow velocity, cerebrovascular resistance, and most other key dependent variables did not significantly differ between the groups. Aerobic exercise training significantly increased middle cerebral blood flow velocity and significantly decreased cerebrovascular resistance, whereas no such changes were observed in the control group. Conclusions: We showed that aerobic exercise training increased middle cerebral blood flow velocity and decreased cerebrovascular resistance in postmenopausal women. The results of the current study suggest that regular aerobic exercise may attenuate aging-induced decrease in cerebral blood flow.