Exercise may be #1 way to prevent dementia

A long-running study involving women only found that regular exercise in middle age was the most effective they could do to prevent later cognitive decline.

A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.

The women were aged 45-55 when the study began in 1992. Health and lifestyle factors were assessed at intervals over the next 20 years.

Memory was assessed using a Verbal Episodic Memory test in which they were asked to learn a list of 10 unrelated words and attempt to recall them 30 minutes later.

Frequent physical activity, normal blood pressure, and high good cholesterol were all strongly associated with better recall, with regular exercise of any type emerging as the number one protective factor against memory loss.

The benefits of exercise were cumulative, meaning that every year’s activity counted. Similarly, the negative effects of high blood pressure were also cumulative. What you do over the course of your life, especially in middle age, matters! Which is not to say that’s a reason not make changes later in life. Better late than never definitely applies.

http://www.futurity.org/exercise-dementia-1180482-2

Reference:

Szoeke, C., Lehert, P., Henderson, V. W., Dennerstein, L., Desmond, P., & Campbell, S. (2016). Predictive Factors for Verbal Memory Performance Over Decades of Aging: Data from the Women’s Healthy Ageing Project. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(10), 857–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.05.008

Exercise

Alzheimers prevention

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