WALKING not only boosts physical health but new Australian research shows it can also help your brain stay younger longer.

That’s good news for (the many cartless) older golfers and means that even if your score starts to skyrocket as your aging body deteriorates, at least you’ll still have the mental capacity to add it all up at the end of the round.

The University of Western Australia study was conducted over 18 months with 170 participants aged over 50 who felt they had memory problems.

The participants were divided into two groups and for six months one group aimed to walk for 50 minutes three times a week or participate in other moderate exercise.

The other group continued with their usual activities.

Results revealed the exercise group performed better on cognitive tasks and had superior delayed recall than the other group.

The landmark study was published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Lead researcher, Nicola Lautenschlager of the University of Melbourne, said the improved memory occurred not only during the trial but for 12 months after the end of the physical activity program.

“We have known for a long time that exercise is a great way to improve cardiovascular health, but it may be that in the future exercise can also be recommended to protect against the ageing brain,” she said.

“The improvement on the memory testing was significant and it was higher than in previous drug trials with Alzheimer’s (disease) medications in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Professor Lautenschlager said she believed this was the first ever trial to demonstrate that exercise can boost memory in older adults at risk of developing conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

She said brisk walking was the safest form of exercise for older people and the results suggested 20 minutes of daily exercise could possibly delay the onset of conditions such as dementia.

“We are not talking onerous, dramatic physical activity but (walking 20 minutes is) something which I think most people would feel, ‘yeah that is something I could incorporate into my daily routine’.”

Playing golf for four plus hours, including all the walking and associated physical activity, would have to more than fit the bill. We’d have to concede that even those using carts are still getting enough exercise to keep some blood flowing to the brain.

The Australian study comes on top of a recent Swedish study that found playing regular golf can actually prolong your life.

The study showed the death rate for golfers is 40 per cent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status. See Golfers live Longer

Lowering your golf handicap can actually prolong your life, according to a new study by a respected international medical university.

The study shows the death rate for golfers is 40 per cent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status. This corresponds to a five year increase in life expectancy. Golfers with a low handicap are the safest.

The study has just been released by the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet.  This is no crackpot organisation. Each year, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Following this study, many golfers might want to reciprocate the favor and award the institute its own Nobel Prize for Golf.

The Institute says it is a well-known fact that exercise is good for the health, but the expected health gains of particular activities are still largely unknown.

The study, which is published in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, is based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers and shows that golf has major beneficial health effects.

Professor Anders Ahlbom, who led the study with Bahman Farahmand, is not surprised at the result, as he believes that there are several aspects of the game that are proved to be good for the health.

“A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six to seven kilometres, something which is known to be good for the health,” he says. “People play golf into old age, and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help.”

The study does not rule out that other factors than the actual playing, such as a generally healthy lifestyle, are also behind the lower death rate observed amongst golfers. However, the researchers believe it is likely that the playing of the game in itself has a significant impact on health.

Golf players have a lower death rate regardless of sex, age and social group. The effect is greater for golfers from blue-collar professions than for those from white-collar professions. The lowest rates are found in the group of players with the lowest handicap (i.e. the best golfers).

Maintaining a low handicap involves playing a lot, so this supports the idea that it is largely the game itself that is good for the health, says Professor Ahlbom.

What the good professor may not be fully aware of is that lowering your golf handicap makes you want to live longer.

The report publication is helpfully titled: “Golf!! A game of life and death.”

We all knew that.

Staying flexible and keeping the full swing tuned up can be major issues for older golfers.

So can overcoming niggling injuries and dealing with chronic conditions and pain.

A great resource in this area is the book Golf After 50.

Written in simple Q&A format, it draws on the technical know-how of orthopaedists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, nutritionists, and sports medicine doctors to address the common health concerns of the older golfer.

Top medical specialists look at the most common ailments that affect one’s golf game and explain how older players can overcome these health issues to play better, pain-free golf.

Whether it’s advice on playing with chronic shoulder or back pain, or following hip or knee replacement, or just the best ways to protect your skin from the sun, Golf After 50 delivers sage advice for older golfers.

There are simple precautions to take to avoid preventable injuries as well as general commonsense nutrition and wellness tips.

Golf After 50 is published by Rodale Press and should be available through good bookshops.

There are certainly new and used copies now available through the Australian Senior Golfer Bookshop by clicking here.

(Tip: The ASG Bookshop operates through Amazon and books are shipped from the US and other international sellers. Book prices can be far lower than available in Australia, but you should be aware you have to pay for international postage as well. Despite this, the ASG book price plus international postage can still mean a big saving on local prices and books are delivered to your door. Check it out for yourself)