Study Links Exercise to Lower Risk of Dementia

Older adults who exercised at least three times a week had a 30 percent to 40 percent lower risk of developing dementia compared with seniors exercising less often, according to a new study.

“Even those elderly people who did modest amounts of gentle exercise, such as walking for 15 minutes three times a week, appeared to benefit,” said Eric Larson, director of the Group Health Cooperative of Seattle’s Center for Health Studies and lead author of the report, published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Moreover, the research showed even people who already suffered from some signs of dementia benefited from regular exercise.

“The group that benefited most were the people who were frailest at the start of the study. Based on these findings, we can advise older people to ‘use it even after you start lose it’ because exercise may slow the progression of age-related problems in thinking,” Larson said.