It seems that now you can keep your brain and use it too. At least that’s what researchers are saying about exercise and Alzheimer’s disease, the number one cause of dementia and the number six cause of death in the U.S. Although the results are preliminary, a number of studies suggest the exercise can help to prevent or even slow down Alzheimer’s by decreasing the amount of cortical loss associated with the disease. Translation: staying fit may keep your noggin’ from shrinking.

No one knows exactly how this works. It’s not even clear whether exercise simply prevents Alzheimer’s, decreases its impact, or both. There may even be some mysterious 3rd variable involved—perhaps better educated people are more likely to exercise their bodies AND their brains. This could account for both higher levels of fitness and lower rates of dementia. Kind of throws the “dumb jock” myth out the window, doesn’t it?

The evidence isn’t limited to humans. Laboratory mice that hit the gym more often have been shown to develop increased growth in the hippocampus, one of the main memory centers ravaged by Alzheimer’s.

As with everything worth knowing, the answer is usually that it’s "all of the above." Exercise and education about its benefits go hand in hand, that’s for sure. But exercise can also increase blood flow to the brain and keep that 3lb oxygen glutton happy…and a happy brain is a non-shrinking one.

Those of you who exercise know that it also keeps you happier. You also have the energy and drive to and are thus more likely to do things like Read, wRite, and do aRithmetic. That’s the “Three R’s” that educators say we can’t do without. Maybe those educators are right after all.