Playing golf in old age can help your mental agility

• Brain health effects will likely come from the exercise involved in walking

A round of golf in retirement can make you mentally sharper.

Researchers recruited 25 people over the age of 65 and tested their reasoning skills after completing 18 holes on a golf course.

Volunteers performed a quick thinking test almost five seconds faster after playing golf, compared to before going out.

The effects on brain health will likely come from the exercise involved in walking a golf course, as well as the strategic thinking at the heart of the game.

But those who subscribe to the old joke that golf is a good walk spoiled can take heart, as walking nearly four miles also appears to increase people’s mental sharpness later in life.

Dr. Julia Ketinen, who led the study at the University of Eastern Finland and is a professional golf professor, said: There is a reason why many retirees play golf, and it is a really good exercise and good for your health, with a very high risk. fewer injuries than playing tennis or skiing.

These results suggest that playing golf can keep people mentally sharper, which could be helpful in preventing dementia.

It’s also encouraging that people who don’t like golf can go for a walk and get the benefits of aerobic exercise that way.

The study, published in the journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, recruited people who were already golfers, playing an average of two rounds a week during the summer.

But it turned out that their mental skills improved shortly after an 18-hole round in which they pulled a golf cart carrying their clubs.

This was tested using the seemingly simple test of using a pencil to draw a line connecting a jumble of numbers, from one to 25, in ascending order.

The test is actually quite difficult, as people cannot take the pencil off the paper and have to think quickly, doing it as quickly as possible.

After a round of golf, study participants performed the test 4.4 seconds faster, on average, than before playing.

On a different day, when they were asked to do a 6km walk, they completed the test almost 6.8 seconds faster afterwards, on average.

The researchers also asked people to practice trendy Nordic walking, which requires using poles held in front of the body at the same time as each step, so it can be more taxing on the brain.

The test was completed 4.6 seconds faster after this activity.

The researchers also used a more complicated test to assess the elderly’s memory, mental agility and executive function – the mental ability involved in making everyday decisions.

This involved connecting the numbers one to 13 in ascending order and the letters A to M, but switching between letters and numbers as quickly as possible.

In this test, 6km of Nordic walking seemed to stimulate people’s brains the most, with people doing it 9.6 seconds faster after this activity.

This compares to a nearly 7.6-second improvement in walking, which may be less of a brain workout because no pole-to-foot coordination is required.

Golf didn’t seem to help people in this second test, which may be because the round of golf lasted about three hours, compared to an hour of walking, so people may be more mentally drained.

The researchers conclude that all three types of exercise appear to be good for the brain.

Golfers in the study completed the tests approximately 60% faster than the average previously observed for the general public, suggesting there are long-term benefits to playing the game over several years.

A previous study by the same research team earlier this year found that golf, 6km walking and 6km Nordic walking improved cardiovascular health in older adults, notably by reducing blood pressure.