The headline isn’t altogether revealing: Exercise helps reduce symptoms of aging.

Big whoop, right? Tell me something I didn’t know.

Well, I report this Captain Obvious factoid with study skeptics in mind. Skeptics always like to point out how one study doesn’t prove much of anything. They like to point out how one study can be refuted by another study, leaving the first study without a leg to stand on.

But when study after study comes out confirming the same thing – in this case, that exercise slows the aging process – there’s really nothing skeptics can do other than accept what’s fact.

But this latest finding regarding age and exercise reveals more than exercise reducing signs of aging. To be more specific, researchers have discovered that exercise can actually prevent the chemical changes that take place in the brain as one ages. Unfortunately, the changes that take place in the brain with age are seldom good.

Anyone in their 40s and 50s knows that his or her body isn’t what it once was. What was once firm is now flop, what were once perky are now saggy, and what was once a leisurely jog in the park has morphed into a sweat-drenched road race (at least it seems that way based on the amount of effort put in).

The same kind of thing happens in the brain. One’s acuity isn’t quite as sharp as it was in those salad days of yore, things once easy to remember are now left lollygagging on the tip of the tongue…you get the picture.

Just as floppiness and sagginess can be lessened with exercise, acuity can be sharpened with exercise. When researchers from North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Tar Heels!) looked at the brain scans of people in their 60s and 70s, about half of whom exercised, they found that there was a greater circulation of blood flow throughout the brains of those who exercised. They also had a greater density of small blood vessels. By comparison, those who did not exercise had less blood flow and fewer blood vessels.

The study involved 12 healthy men and women, half of whom exercised for at least three hours a week over the past ten years. The rest exercised for about an hour a week. Analysis of the brain was done by reviewing MRI scans, accompanied by the use of some hi-tech goodies that helped researchers better analyze the size and efficiency of blood flow throughout the brain.

The benefits of exercise can’t be overemphasized. No matter your age, you should aim for at least an hour of exercise each and every day.

Too busy? Please. Assuming the role of president of the United States is perhaps the most demanding job in the world and both our current president and president-elect are exercise fiends who make time to exercise every day.

Even a little is better than none, but aim for at least one hour of exercise a day to keep your brain from turning grey.