Any regular exercise at any age helps fight off dementia

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Any regular exercise at any age - from a monthly walk to running marathons - helps fight off dementia in later life, according to new research.

But maintaining a fitness routine throughout adulthood is the best for preserving memory and mental sharpness, say scientists.

The long-term study, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, showed any regular leisure-time physical activity at any age is linked to better brain function in later life.

Researchers say the findings remained "statistically significant" even though factoring in childhood cognitive ability, household income, and education weakened the observed associations.

The team wanted to know if physical activity might be most beneficial in specific "sensitive" periods in the course of a lifetime, or across multiple time periods.

They looked at the strength of associations between a series of cognitive tests at age 69 and reported leisure-time physical activity at the ages of 36, 43, 53, 60 to 64, and 69 in more than 1,400 British men and women taking part in the 1946 British birth cohort study.

Physical activity levels were categorized as: inactive; moderately active - one to four times a month; most active - five or more times per month, and summed across all five assessments to create a total score ranging from zero - inactive at all ages - to five, active at all ages.

One in nine of the participants (11 percent) were physically inactive at all five-time points; 17 percent were active at one; 20 percent were active at two and three; 17 percent were active at four and 15 percent at all five.

Cognitive performance at age 69 was assessed using a test that analyses facets including attention and orientation, verbal fluency, memory and language.

Verbal memory - a word learning test - and processing speed were also tested.

Factors associated with a heightened risk of cognitive decline - cardiovascular and mental health, and carriage of the APOE-ε4 gene - were also assessed to see if they modified any observed associations.

Study author Dr. Sarah-Naomi James said: "Analysis of the results showed that being physically active at all five of the time points was associated with higher cognitive performance, verbal memory, and processing speed at the age of 69."

She said the effect sizes were similar across all adult ages, and for those who were moderately and most physically active, “suggesting that being physically active at any time in adulthood, even if participating as little as once per month, is linked with higher cognition.”

But Dr. James said: "The strongest association was observed for sustained cumulative physical activity and later life cognition, and for those who were most physically active at all ages.

"The positive association between cumulative physical activity and later life cognitive performance was partly explained by childhood cognition, socioeconomic position, and education.

"But the effect remained significant when these were factored in, and the associations weren’t explained by differences in later life cardiovascular or mental health.

“Together, these results suggest that the initiation and maintenance of physical activity across adulthood may be more important than the timing or the frequency of physical activity at a specific period."

Dr. James, of University College London Medical School, said the study was observational and, as such, can’t establish cause.

But she added: "Our findings support guidelines to recommend participation in any physical activity across adulthood and provide evidence that encouraging inactive adults to be more active at any time, and encouraging already active adults to maintain activity, could confer benefits on later life cognition.”