Summary: Regular physical activity benefits the mental as we get older as well as the body. A 16-year review of over 13 000 people found that regular physical activity drastically slowed cognitive decline.
Even modest raises in regular exercise, ranging from mild chores to strenuous exercise, were linked to measurable mental benefits. The findings highlight the importance of developing long-term workout routines to prevent dementia and maintain quality of life.
Important Information:
- Lifelong Benefit: Regular physical activity over a long period of time slows mental decline in older people.
- Any Movement Makes a Difference: Yet simple tasks like vacuuming and gardening can be done.
- Delay Alzheimer’s Disease: Regular exercise may help to delay the onset of memory by many times.
University of Georgia
Physical activity is widely recognized as a crucial component of a healthier lifestyle, but a recent study from the University of Georgia has discovered an additional benefit: preventing cognitive decline.
Analysts at the , UGA College of Public Health , analyzed data from more than 13, 000 survey respondents and discovered that regular physical activity can lower the rate of cognitive decline for older people. This research demonstrates the value of continuing to exercise consistently throughout career, according to direct author Suhang Song.
According to Song, an associate professor in the , Department of Health Policy and Management,” we found that longer and more numerous relationship in real activity was associated with prolonged mental decline.”
Over the course of the review,” these defensive benefits increased.”
Even just once a month of exercise makes a difference
The experts relied on information from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, which followed people for at least 50 ages.
Respondents rated their physical activity level and frequency of exercise according to intensity. Running and jogging were two dangerous hobbies. While washing dishes, washing dishes, and making home inspection were viewed as average activities, gardening, dancing, or stretching.
” If this slower decline persists, it might be able to significantly delay the onset of dementia by several years.” Suhang Song, president of the College of Public Health.
The study found that people who continued to exercise regularly throughout their lives had a considerably slower rate of cognitive decline. It focused on general activity habits more than certain exercise times.
For instance, a tangible lowering of cognitive decline was associated with increasing vigorous physical activity from one to three times per month to once per week. Even reducing the frequency of cognitive decline over time by increasing moderate physical exercise from once per week to several times per week was a result.
The decline rate’s improvement may seem respectable, but it increases over time. If this slower decline persists, Song said, “it was possibly delay the onset of dementia by several years, giving people more time to live freely and maintain quality of life.”
In both theory and practice, ordinary action should be promoted.
The findings expand on existing studies that hyperlinks physical exercise to mental wellbeing, but what distinguishes this study is its emphasis on the persistence and frequency of activity over time.
Promoting regular physical activity may be a crucial element of any program designed to lower dementia risk in older people, Song said.
By setting lofty, workable goals, the researchers said, helping people adopt more sustainable routines and developing and maintaining long-term physical activity habits could be done through the advice of doctors and healthcare providers.
In the end, Song’s concept is straightforward: Increase action and move more.
Our findings support targeted initiatives that promote fast, consistent, and long-term bodily activity among older people, Song said. Constant physical activity is an important strategic measure, both from the clinical side and the intervention side.
About this study on mental decline and exercise.
Author: Savannah Peat
Source: University of Georgia
Contact: Savannah Peat – University of Georgia
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Start access to original study.
Proof from a 16-year batch study,” Long-term accumulated physical exercise associated with less mental reduction” by Suhang Song and colleagues. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Protection
Abstract
Data from a 16-year cohort study that suggests long-term combined physical activity is associated with less cognitive decline
Introduction
Physical activity ( PA ) has been shown to slow cognitive decline. The long-term, cumulative PA ( cPA )’s role in cognitive decline is still a mystery, though.
Methods
Data for this horizontal investigation came from the Health and Retirement Study, 2004-2020. The sum of the scores from a number of cognitive tests was used to operationalize international thinking. The metabolic equivalent of tasks ( MET ) adjusted PA was used to operationalize the area under the curve of the cPA. Generalized linear mixed models were used to test the connections between cPA and cognitive change.
Results
With a mean follow-up time of 11.06 ( SD=4.91 ) years, this study included 13, 450 cognitively healthy participants. Higher cPA levels were linked to slower declines in global cognition ( p<,. 001 ), memory ( p<,. 001 ) and executive function ( p<,. 001 ), and these protective benefits increased over the course of the study’s 16-year run. Longer PA proposal was linked to a mental decline that was progressive.
Conclusion
Long-term PA proposal may help to keep cognitive performance up.
