Physical Activity Reduces Dementia Risk

The quality of data resulting from studies of exercise and disease risk has increased greatly since the advent of low-cost accelerometer devices. Self-reported activity data has many issues, not least of which being the challenge of assessing just how much low intensity activity is actually taking place. Nonetheless, the evidence for a greater degree of physical activity to reduce the risk of age-related disease was extensive even prior to the commonplace use of accelerometers in such studies, and has only grown since. The example here is one of a great many studies focused on exercise in the context of dementia risk.

Because few large studies have examined device measures of movement and sitting in relation to mild cognitive impairment and dementia, much of the published research on the associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior with cognitive decline and dementia is based on self-reported measures. For this study, the researchers sampled data from 1,277 women as part of two Women's Health Initiative (WHI) ancillary studies - the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) and the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study. The women wore research-grade accelerometers and went about their daily activities for up to seven days to obtain accurate measures of physical activity and sitting.

The activity trackers showed the women averaged 3,216 steps, 276 minutes in light physical activities, 45.5 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and 10.5 hours of sitting per day. Examples of light physical activity could include housework, gardening or walking. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity could include brisk walking. The researchers reported that, among women aged 65 or older, each additional 31 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Risk was also 33 percent lower with each additional 1,865 daily steps. The study findings also showed that higher amounts of sitting and prolonged sitting were not associated with higher risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Link: https://today.ucsd.edu/story/more-steps-moderate-physical-activity-cuts-dementia-cognitive-impairment-risk

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