Exercise To Reduce Dementia Risk

Health & Fitness Exercise


We know that living a healthier lifestyle by eating a well balanced diet and having exercise on a daily basis can help reduce the risk of health problems such as heart disease and cancer. But recent studies have also shown that exercising during midlife for half an hour can help by significantly reducing the risk of developing dementia later in life.

Studies have shown that people in there 40`s and early 50`s who exercise on a daily basis could reduce their risk of having dementia by up to 50%. A reduction of around 60% could be seen in people who are genetically prone to Alzheimer’s disease.

How do we known exercise can help?

The study was based on 1500 men and women of whom 200 developed Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia between the ages of 65 and 70, researchers looked back into the past history to find out how active the participants had been up to 21 years previously.

Those people who had developed some form of dementia had been less active in their 40`s and 50`s than the people who showed no signs of dementia. The study concluded that it appeared to be necessary to take part in some from of physical activity which lasted between 20 and 30 minutes at least twice a week.

Researchers though there could be many reasons for the findings, for example exercising on a regular basis can help to keep the small blood vessels of the brain healthy.

It is thought also that regular exercise might help reduce the amount of the protein amyloid that build up in the brain in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s. Any physical activity also affects the genes and compounds that are essential for the memory to function properly.

The study also took into account the fact that people who exercise on a regular basis are prone to living a healthier lifestyle in general for example they are non smokers and don’t drink or drink very little alcohol.

Factor’s such as these were taken into account but the findings remained the same suggesting that exercise on a daily basis is beneficial for the brain.

Exercise suitable for middle age and the elderly

The most important point to note when starting any form of exercise for the first time is to build up slowly, maybe even as little as 5 minutes of walking or using an exercise bike at first then increasing the amount over a period of time.

Almost all forms of exercise are suitable for people who are in there 40`s and early 50`s when done in moderation until the body gets used to the new regime, for elderly people swimming is an ideal form of exercise which benefits many problems associated with ageing.

Many leisure centres and fitness centres now offer classes especially for people over the age of 50 where people the same age can workout together.