Lending credibility to the phrase, "Of sound mind and body," it now appears that good cardiovascular health can indeed help to improve cognitive function.

That is because a new study has found that when your heart stays healthy and strong, it appears to slow the aging of your brain. On the other hand, less than optimal cardiovascular health that leads to "sluggish" hearts seems to age the brain by an average of two years, predisposing people to "older" minds.

The current findings are the result of study that looked at over 1,500 people whose ages spanned a broad range. What they found was that a very small number of the subjects had heart disease, yet nearly one third of the group had a low cardiac index in conjunction with a smaller brain volume (as measured by magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI).

Cardiac index is a measure of how much blood the heart pumps out relative to a person's body size. It remains fairly unchanged, and usually requres rigorous and extensive exercise regimens to raise it.

The researchers note that the subjects with smaller brain sizes displayed no clinical signs of compromised brain function, but they did point out that brain shrinkage can be an early symptom of problems later in life, including dementia. The results were enough to raise some concern and warrant further study.

There may be several reasons why the flow of blood may affect the health of our brains. First and foremost is the fact that the blood transports oxygen and nutrients that are necessary for the proper functioning and development of brain cells. Blood is also necessary for waste removal, immunity, temperature regulation, and homeostasis.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Circulation, indicate that it is too early to issue exercise guidelines concerning mental health, especially when it concerns cardiac index and its relationship to brain volume and possible neurodegeneration.

However, it does seem fair to say that heart and brain health are not mutually exclusive. This will become increasingly important to meet the needs of the rapidly-growing aging population. After all, most of us have felt the beneficial effects that exercise can have on our cognitive processes, ultimately making us clearer and more productive thinkers.

For now, researchers say that more work will need to be done in order to gain a better understanding between this potential relationship, particularly in relation to how changes in the brain affect memory and cognitive abilities.