Category: Dementia

People showed improved memory and the ability to perform tasks more quickly.

Regular moderate exercise is enough to slow brain ageing by the equivalent of ten years, research finds.

The study followed 876 people over 65-years-old across more than 10 years.

They were given tests of memory and thinking skills along with brain scans.

Unfortunately, 90 percent of the people in the study reported that they did light or no exercise.

Light exercise included things like yoga and walking.

Moderate exercise included things like aerobic, callisthenics and running.

Dr Clinton B. Wright, one of the study’s authors, said:

“The number of people over the age of 65 in the United States is on the rise, meaning the public health burden of thinking and memory problems will likely grow.

Our study showed that for older people, getting regular exercise may be protective, helping them keep their cognitive abilities longer.”

After five years, those who were at least moderately active could remember more words from a list and could perform simple tasks more quickly.

Dr Wright said:

“Physical activity is an attractive option to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment in public health because it is low cost and doesn’t interfere with medications.

Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Willey et al., 2016).

The light activities that a person can do to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

How unbearable is the thought of commuting nearly 400 miles a day or watching TV for 12 hours everyday?

Well, the thought is not that far from reality as most U.S. adults remain seated 12 hours of their daily life.

The mental and physical health conditions of a sedentary lifestyle are mostly known to us.

Sitting too long has been shown to increase the odds of many long-term diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues including fatigue, depression, anxiety, and dementia.

To overcome the serious damage caused by an inactive lifestyle, general health guidelines recommend adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week.

A study, though, has found that doing light activities such as household tasks during the day will lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Dr Steven Hooker, the study’s first author, said:

“Light-intensity physical activity can include vacuuming, sweeping the floor, washing the car, leisure strolling, stretching, or playing catch.

We observed that both physical activity and being sedentary independently impacted stroke risk.

Our research demonstrates that strategies for stroke prevention should focus on both.”

In this study, nearly 8,000 adults aged 45 and older were recruited and followed over seven years.

The research team calculated the amount of time subjects spent sitting down and the intensity of physical activity.

To measure and record physical activity and sedentary time, participants had to wear a hip-mounted accelerometer during the day.

Next, they looked at the number of strokes that occurred during seven years of follow-up.

The results showed that participants who were inactive for 13 hours or longer throughout the day were 44 percent more likely to have a stroke.

Dr Hooker said:

“The findings are more potent because the activity and sedentary behaviors were measured with an accelerometer, providing substantially more accurate data than previous studies that relied on self-reported measures.”

According to U.S. national data from 2010 to 2015 published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 23 percent of adults met the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

A different  study suggests that walking 7,000 steps (5.6 km or 3 miles) each day lowers the risk of death by about two-thirds in adults.

If doing so is not practical then exercising or taking part in light to moderate intensity activities for 10 minutes several times a day would help a lot to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Dr Hooker said:

“For overall heart and brain health, move more within your capacity, and sit less.”

The study was published in JAMA Network Open (Hooker et al., 2022).

Half of Americans use a drink linked to dementia on any given day.

Both sugary and artificially sweetened ‘diet’ drinks are linked to dementia by two studies.

People who drink sugary beverages tend to have poorer memories, smaller brains and a smaller hippocampus (an area vital for learning and memory).

Diet sodas, though, don’t seem much safer.

A follow-up study found that people who drink diet sodas are three times more likely to develop dementia and stroke, compared to those who drink none.

Both studies show associations, so it doesn’t prove cause and effect.

Professor Sudha Seshadri, who led the research, said:

“These studies are not the be-all and end-all, but it’s strong data and a very strong suggestion.

It looks like there is not very much of an upside to having sugary drinks, and substituting the sugar with artificial sweeteners doesn’t seem to help.

Maybe good old-fashioned water is something we need to get used to.”

Excess sugar intake has long been linked to obesity, diabetes  and heart disease.

Its effect on the brain is more of an unknown (although what are the chances it’s going to be good for us?!)

More surprising is the link between diet sodas and dementia.

The researchers suggest it could be down to the artificial sweeteners used.

Sugar is toxic to the brain

This is certainly not the first study to link sugar intake with dementia.

Another study linked excess sugar intake with Alzheimer’s disease.

It suggested that too much glucose (sugar) in the diet damages a vital enzyme which helps fight the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

High blood sugar levels have also been linked to memory problems.

The researchers in this study think that sugar could have a ‘toxic’ effect on the brain.

The studies were published in the journals Stroke and Alzheimer’s & Dementia (Pase et al., 2017; Pase et al., 2017).