Even mild physical activity in midlife can delay the onset of dementia, new research has found.
Just 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week such as bike riding – compared to zero minutes per week – was associated with a 41% lower risk of developing dementia over an average four-year follow-up period.
Even for frail older adults – those at elevated risk of adverse health outcomes – greater activity was associated with lower dementia risks.
The researchers found dementia risk decreased with higher amounts of physical activity. Dementia risks were 60% lower in participants in the 35 to 69.9 minutes of physical activity/week category; 63% lower in the 70 to 139.9 minutes/week category; and 69% lower in the 140 and over minutes/week category.
For their analysis, the researchers analysed a dataset covering nearly 90,000 adults living in the UK who wore activity trackers.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(24)00879-X/abstract
The analysis compared individuals whose trackers showed some weekly moderate to vigorous physical activity to those whose trackers showed none and accounted for age and other medical conditions. The associations between higher activity and lower dementia risk were striking.
Participants in the lowest activity category, ranging from one to 34.9 minutes per week, had an apparent risk reduction of about 41%.
“Our findings suggest that increasing physical activity, even as little as five minutes per day, can reduce dementia risk in older adults,” says study lead author Amal Wanigatunga, assistant professor at the John Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“This adds to a growing body of evidence that some exercise is better than nothing, especially with regard to an aging-related disorder that affects the brain that currently has no cure.”
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