A new study has concluded that continuing to exercise regularly starting in your mid-forties may reduce the risk of dementia.
The study was conducted by researchers from Boston University in the United States, and its results were published in Gamma magazine on September 26, and the British newspaper Daily Mail wrote about it.
The researchers studied data taken from 4,354 adults, and the participants were divided into 3 groups: a group in the early stages of life, with an average age of about 37 years, a middle-aged group, with an average age of about 54 years, and a group in the advanced stages of life, with an average age of about 71 years.
To evaluate the effect of exercise on the risk of developing dementia, the researchers followed the participants for a specific period, and this period differed depending on the group, as adults were followed in the early stages of life after 37 years, the middle-aged group after 25 years, and the advanced age group after 14 years. During the study period, 567 people developed dementia, and 369 of them were classified as having Alzheimer’s disease.
Physical activity and dementia
The scientists concluded that there was no link between how active people were in early adulthood and their risk of developing dementia later, but physical activity in middle and late life was associated with a lower risk of dementia.
Participants self-reported physical activity using the Physical Activity Index, which is a composite score consisting of looking at the number of hours of sleep and limited, light, moderate, or strenuous activity.
Using information from the Physical Activity Index, participants were placed into 5 groups from least to most active.
The most active people in middle age were approximately 41% less likely to develop dementia than the least active group.
The most active people in late life were approximately 45% less likely to develop dementia than the least active group.
The results were particularly similar for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia in the study. This reflects reality, as Alzheimer’s accounts for 60% of all dementia cases.
“We found that higher levels of physical activity in middle and late life were associated with similar reductions in the risk of multicausal dementia and associated Alzheimer’s dementia,” said Dr. Philip Huang, who led the study.