Summary: A huge study found that people who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity are significantly less likely to produce memory, injury, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. Researchers collected data from over 73, 000 people who used portable devices to monitor their levels of activity, providing objective data on movement and lethargic behavior.
Higher energy expenditures were 14 % to 40 % less likely to develop these conditions, while sitting for longer increased the risk of developing these conditions by up to 54 %. These studies suggest that encouraging physical activity might be a crucial step in reducing the prevalence of neural and mental health disorders.
Essential Information
- Lower Disease Risk: People with higher physical activity levels were 14 % to 40 % less likely to develop dementia, stroke, anxiety, depression, or sleep disorders.
- Impact of sitting: Spending more time on your lap increased the risk of developing a disease by 5 % to 54 %.
- Goal Tracking: The study used portable tools for accurate measurements, reducing rely on self-reported exercise data.
Origin: AAN
People who get reasonable to vigorous physical activity may be less likely to develop memory, injury, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems, according to a preliminary investigation released today, February 27, 2025, that will be presented at the , American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting , taking area April 5–9, 2025, in San Diego and online.
Additionally, the review found that the more time people spent sitting, the more likely they were to contract any of these conditions.
According to study author Jia-Yi Wu, MD, of Fudan University in Shanghai, China,” this study highlights the role that physical activity and sedentary behaviour play as modifiable factors that may improve brain wellbeing and reduce the incidence of these diseases.”
It is intriguing to think that motivating people to alter their lifestyles could potentially lower the burden of these diseases in the future.
Researchers analyzed data from 73, 411 people wearing accelerometers continuously for seven days to analyze their physical activity, how much energy they expended on their activities, and how much time they spent sitting each day.
Metabolic equivalents ( METs ) were used to quantify energy expenditure. Activities with an energy expenditure of at least three METs, such as walking or vacuuming, and more intense exercise like cycling, which could be around six METs, depending on speed, were defined as moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Depending on how active they were, people who had moderate to vigorous physical activity were 14 % to 40 % less likely to develop the five diseases than those who had lower energy expenditure.
The people who did not develop any of the diseases had an average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity energy expenditure of 1.22 kilojoules per kilogram, compared to 0.85 for the people who developed dementia, 0.95 for those who developed sleep disorders, 1.02 for stroke, 1.08 for depression and 1.10 for anxiety.
The higher the risk of developing one of the diseases, the higher the number of sitting people, with the increase ranging from 5 % to 54 % higher than those who spent the least amount of time sitting.
According to Wu,” some previous studies have relied on people reporting on their own levels of activity.”
These findings will have an impact on determining risk factors and developing measures to prevent the development of these diseases because of our large number of participants and the use of tools that allow for objective measurement of activity levels.
The study’s limitation was that 96 % of the participants were white, so the findings may not apply to other races.
Funding: This study was supported by grants from the Scientific and Technological Innovation 2030 –” Brain Science and Brain-inspired Artificial Intelligence” Major Project.
about this information about brain health research and exercise.
Author: Renee Tessman
Source: AAN
Contact: Renee Tessman – AAN
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting
