Frontiers in aging neuroscienceOct 5, 2010

Changes in brain networks after exercise training in older adults

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Feb 13, 2026

Abstract

Aerobic training improved the aging brain's resting functional efficiency in higher-level cognitive networks.

Older adults participating in a 1-year aerobic exercise program showed increased functional connectivity in key brain networks associated with cognition.
Significant improvements in brain connectivity were observed after 12 months of walking, contrasting with non-significant trends at 6 months.
A non-aerobic stretching and toning group also exhibited increased functional connectivity in certain brain networks, suggesting potential experience-related changes.
Enhanced functional connectivity correlated with greater improvements in executive function, indicating that brain changes may be behaviorally relevant.
The findings suggest a link between aerobic fitness and reduced age-related brain dysfunction, highlighting the potential for exercise to promote brain health.

Simplified

Research has shown the human brain is organized into separable functional networks during rest and varied states of cognition, and that aging is associated with specific network dysfunctions. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine low-frequency (0.008 < f < 0.08 Hz) coherence of cognitively relevant and sensory brain networks in older adults who participated in a 1-year intervention trial, comparing the effects of aerobic and non-aerobic fitness training on brain function and cognition. Results showed that aerobic training improved the aging brain's resting functional efficiency in higher-level cognitive networks. One year of walking increased functional connectivity between aspects of the frontal, posterior, and temporal cortices within the Default Mode Network and a Frontal Executive Network, two brain networks central to brain dysfunction in aging. Length of training was also an important factor. Effects in favor of the walking group were observed only after 12 months of training, compared to non-significant trends after 6 months. A non-aerobic stretching and toning group also showed increased functional connectivity in the DMN after 6 months and in a Frontal Parietal Network after 12 months, possibly reflecting experience-dependent plasticity. Finally, we found that changes in functional connectivity were behaviorally relevant. Increased functional connectivity was associated with greater improvement in executive function. Therefore the study provides the first evidence for exercise-induced functional plasticity in large-scale brain systems in the aging brain, using functional connectivity techniques, and offers new insight into the role of aerobic fitness in attenuating age-related brain dysfunction.

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Changes in brain networks after exercise training in older adults

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