Older women who do regular aerobic exercise boost an area of the brain associated with verbal memory and learning, a new Canadian study has found.

The researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver looked at how exercise affected the hippocampal volume of the brain in 86 women between the ages of 70 and 80.

The hippocampus is sensitive to the effects of aging and neurological damage.

The size of their hippocampus was assessed at the start and the end of the six-month period using an MRI scan, and their verbal memory and learning capacity were assessed before and after as well.

The women who completed the six months of aerobic training had significantly larger hippocampi than those who just did balance or muscle-toning exercises, the study found.

The research was published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.