Brain teasers and socialization have been proven to prevent cognitive decline, but studies show that physical exercise can also reduce your chances of developing dementia and other memory loss conditions. It’s estimated that nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, and NYU Langone Health predicts dementia cases in the U.S. will double by 2060. Fortunately, more and more research is being conducted to better understand how people can naturally lower their dementia risk.
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Researchers say weekly workouts boost brain function, thus lowering your dementia risk.
Scientific research supports the “taking a walk to clear my head” theory and shows that walking boosts your long-term brain health, too. One study says walking 9,800 steps per day can lower your dementia risk by half, while a 2024 study reports that you can see improvement in cognitive function with as little as 4,000 daily steps.
But don’t sweat it if you aren’t a smartwatch person. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association suggests that timed walks and workouts also tout amazing brain health benefits. In this case, achieving 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week was classified as a preventative for developing dementia.
“This adds to a growing body of evidence that some exercise is better than nothing, especially with regard to an aging-related disorder that affects the brain that currently has no cure,” lead study author Amal Wanigatunga, PhD, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology, said in a statement.
Less than an hour of weekly exercise can lower your dementia risk by 41 percent.
To arrive at their findings, Wanigatunga and his team analyzed the health data of 89,667 British adults (ages 50 and over) who used smartwatches and wrist-worn fitness trackers to log their steps and physical activity. Individuals tracked their exercise levels for a week, followed by routine health screenings over the course of 4.4 years.
By the end of the experiment, 735 adults had received a dementia diagnosis. Researchers found that those who logged the most minutes of exercise had the highest reduction risk compared to those in the “lowest activity category.” Their results are as follows:
- 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week lowered dementia risk by 41 percent
- 35-69 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week lowered dementia risk by 60 percent
- 70-139 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week lowered dementia risk by 63 percent
- 140+ minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week lowered dementia risk by 69 percent
“Our findings suggest that increasing physical activity, even as little as five minutes per day, can reduce dementia risk in older adults,” said Wanigatunga.
Moreover, Wanigatunga said dementia risk among at-risk persons living with and without frailty didn’t produce significantly different results. “This suggests that even frail or nearly frail older adults might be able to reduce their dementia risk through low-dose exercise,” he explained.
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The takeaway:
Aiming for 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week can sharpen cognitive function skills and stave off threatening aging conditions like dementia, per the study. And if you can double or triple that amount, even better.
“Our results suggest engaging in any additional amount of MVPA [moderate to vigorous physical activity] reduces dementia risk, with the highest benefit appearing among individuals with no MVPA. These associations are not substantially modified by frailty status,” wrote the authors.
Furthermore, Wanigatunga said more research—specifically, clinical trial-type studies—is needed to “investigate low-dose exercise as an important initial step towards increasing physical activity as a dementia-preventing strategy,” per the release.