Staying active in your middle years or later could slash your risk of developing dementia, according to a groundbreaking study, which shows people who exercise regularly can reduce their chances of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia by up to 45 per cent.
Scientists at Boston University School of Public Health discovered that both middle-aged and older adults who maintained higher activity levels showed remarkable protection against cognitive decline.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the research examined more than 4,300 individuals who were all free from dementia when the study began.
Participants filled out questionnaires about their sleep patterns and exercise habits, rating their activity levels from sedentary to heavy.
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Scientists tracked these people across three distinct periods of life. They monitored early adults aged 26 to 44 for roughly 37 years, middle-aged participants between 45 and 64 for about 26 years, and older adults from 65 to 88 for approximately 15 years.
Throughout these extended follow-up periods, researchers carefully documented any cases of Alzheimer's disease or other dementia types that emerged among the participants.
The findings show that people who maintained the highest activity levels during middle age saw their dementia risk drop by 40 per cent over the following 26 years.
For those who stayed active in later life, the protection was even greater - with risk reductions ranging from 36 to 45 per cent over 15 years.
The protection is even greater for those who stay active in later life
|GETTY
Interestingly, the benefits of midlife exercise only appeared in people who don't carry the APOE4 gene variant, which is linked to higher Alzheimer's risk.
But the good news is that exercise in later life helped everyone, regardless of their genetic makeup.
"These results may help to inform more precise and effective strategies to prevent or delay the onset of dementia in later life," noted study author Dr Phillip Hwang from Boston University's Department of Epidemiology.
Dr Hwang went on to explain that exercise works its magic through several pathways.
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| GETTY"There are several possible mechanisms through which physical activity is thought to lower the risk of dementia, such as improving brain structure and function, reducing inflammation and exerting benefits on vascular function," he noted.
Exercise might also tackle the root causes of Alzheimer's by reducing toxic beta-amyloid accumulation in the brain, which could help build cognitive reserve and delay mental decline in later years.
Supporting research published in Alzheimer's & Dementia backs this up. Scientists found that people who exercised between the ages of 45 and 65 had lower beta-amyloid levels in their brains.
Meanwhile, those who remained inactive showed brain shrinkage in areas typically affected by Alzheimer's.
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