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To maintain an active lifestyle between the ages of 40 and 50 can be beneficial in preventing shrinking of brain, thus extending the life expectancy, reveals a new study. According to the research, people with deficient fitness levels in their 30s and 40s may result in smaller brain, 20 years later, says Telegraph

Author of the paper, Nicole Spartano from Boston University School of Medicine said, "We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain ageing." For the purpose of this study, 1,583 participants enrolled with an average age of 40 years, without any dementia or heart disease and were made to take the treadmill test. Another test was taken a decade or two later along with their MRI brain scans. For the accuracy of results, the researchers excluded all the participants that developed a case of heart condition or started taking blood pressure control medication, as reported by Telegraph.

According to the findings based on treadmill test, every time a participant performed by eight units lower, their brain volume shrank two decades later, similar to accelerated to brain ageing of 2 years. The study that was published by Journal Neurology also revealed that people with lower blood pressure or increased heart rate during exercise were also likelier to have smaller brain volumes, 20 years later. However, the researcher added, "While not yet studied on a large scale, these results suggest that fitness in middle age may be particularly important for the many millions of people around the world who already have evidence of heart disease," as reported by Telegraph