In The News This Week … Sep. 18–24, 2004: Exercise to Avoid Dementia

Good news for the planet's aging population (i.e., everyone): Two studies released in the September 22, 2004 Journal of the American Medical Association show that physical activity, such as walking, staves off dementia. (And indirect good news is that both sexes were studied!)

In the study Walking and Dementia in Physically Capable Elderly Men, 2,257 men aged 71 to 93 were neurologically assessed initially between 1991 and 1993, then twice more between 1994–1996 and 1997–1999, looking for overall dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. The study found that men who walked the least (less than one-quarter-mile per day) were 1.8 times as likely to develop dementia as those who walked at least two miles per day. The findings also appeared to show that those who could walk quickly during a timed walk also had a lower risk of dementia.

And the study Physical Activity, Including Walking, and Cognitive Function in Older Women, which ultimately assessed 16,466 women aged 70 to 81, found similar results. In this case, the women, part of the Nurses' Health Study, were mailed questionnaires beginning in 1986, then were cognitively assessed by telephone twice more between 1995–2001 and between 1997–2003. Results showed that higher levels of activity over the long term were associated with better cognitive performance. But "higher levels of activity" does not mean strenuous activity – even easy walking for 1 to 1.5 hours per week helped performance. And, study authors write, for those who exercised more "the apparent cognitive benefits of greater physical activity were similar in extent to being about 3 years younger in age and were associated with a 20% lower risk of cognitive impairment."

We're not getting any younger! Let's try to get out and get active!

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