Vigorous exercise can help keep your brain healthy and ward off dementia. Rachel Fairbank reports for the New York Times on three recent studies confirming the value of vigorous exercise for your mental health. The good news: Exercise comes in a large variety of forms, including household chores.
The studies involved hundreds of thousands of people over many years. They each concluded that ongoing exercise of myriad types can “substantially” reduce your risk of developing dementia. They further found that the benefit of exercise for brain health extends to people with a family history of dementia.
The British study of more than 500,000 people published in Neurology took a deep dive into the kinds of physical activity people engaged in routinely. After 11 years, about one percent of the participants had developed dementia. Participants who worked out or played a sport had a 35 percent lower risk of developing dementia. Participants who undertook household chores for an extended period had a 21 percent lower risk.
An appropriate goal is still 30 minutes of exercise five days a week or a total of 150 minutes of exercise that has you breaking a sweat.
A meta-analysis of 38 studies of the effects of leisure activities on brain health was published earlier this month in Neurology. These studies, over at least three years, involved more than two million people who did not have dementia. During that time, 74,700 developed dementia. Researchers found that participants who walked, ran, swum, danced, engaged in sports or worked out reduced their risk of developing dementia by 17 percent.
The third study followed young children over a 30-year period. The researchers found that kids who are active end up with greater brain health in midlife.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- To live longer, you must both eat well and exercise
- Exercise helps strengthen your knees, even when it causes pain
- Exercise can slow down the aging of your heart and muscles substantially
- Aerobic exercise may be best medicine for your brain and body
- Five exercises to improve balance for safety and health
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