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Stay active for an active mind
Keeping fit with plenty of physical activity may help cut the risk of vascular dementia
Researchers in Italy found that walking, cleaning the house and other forms of moderate exercise could cut the risk of getting vascular dementia by over a third.
Vascular dementia is the most common form of dementia in the UK after Alzheimer’s and affects an estimated 700,000 people in the UK. It occurs when the blood vessels to the brain become blocked or damaged, impairing blood flow and leading to mental decline.
The four-year study, published in the journal Neurology, involved 749 Italians aged 65 and over who didn't show any signs of dementia at the start of the research. They were asked to say how much exercise they did. Scientists added up the number of calories burned for different kinds of physical activity, including walking and stair climbing, to calculate the average activity levels of each volunteer.
Four years later, the research team found that those who were the most active were the least likely to develop vascular dementia.
By the end of the study, 86 of the participants had developed dementia, of which 27 were diagnosed as vascular dementia cases. Those people who walked the most were 73 per cent less likely to develop vascular dementia than those who walked the least. Volunteers who logged the most time doing moderate exercise, such as housework or cycling, enjoyed a lowered risk of 76 per cent. The differences remained, even after factors such as wealth and genetic risk were taken into account. The study showed no similar links between moderate exercise and the onset of Alzheimer’s, although this does not mean that exercise has no effect on the risk of developing this particular form of dementia.
The results support the growing evidence that lifestyle choices could help prevent the onset of dementia.
So why does exercise help to ward off vascular dementia? According to the researchers, exercise could have several benefits in maintaining mental function. Exercise improves circulation to the brain but it may also release important chemicals into bloodstream, replenishing new nerve cells and renewing the connections between nerve cells in the brain, boosting memory.
'This study adds to the growing body of evidence that keeping fit can help reduce your risk of developing dementia,’ says Dr Susanne Sorensen for the Alzheimer’s Society. ‘The comparison between people with vascular dementia and people with Alzheimer’s disease is particularly interesting. More research is now needed to determine whether physical activity can prevent one type of dementia to a greater extent than another.’
Dementia: the facts
- There are over 100 different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia are the most common.
- Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse. How fast this happens varies from one person to another.
- Symptoms of dementia include short-term memory loss, mood changes and, later, communication problems as reading, writing and conversation become difficult.
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- Medical conditions factfinder: Alzheimer's disease
- Medical conditions factfinder: multi-infarct dementia
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Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.