Exercise Reduces Risk of Alzheimer’s – Natural Family Medicine

There is just NO SUBSTITUTE for physical activity. Let’s get moving!!!

FRI., APR. 25, 2014: JUST-RELEASED NATURAL HEALTH STUDY
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MAY HELP PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A study of older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer’s shows that moderate physical activity protects brain health and staves off shrinkage of the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for memory and spatial orientation that is attacked first in this always-fatal disease. Exercise may delay cognitive decline and symptom onset in these individuals. Scientists tracked four groups of healthy adults aged 65-89 with normal cognitive abilities, over 18 months, and measured their hippocampus volume by MRIs before and after. The groups were classified both for low or high Alzheimer’s risk and for low or high physical activity levels. Of all four of these groups, only those at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s who also did not exercise experienced a decrease in hippocampal volume (3 percent) over the 18-month period. All other groups, including those at high risk for Alzheimer’s but who were physically active, maintained the volume of their hippocampus. (The lead researcher previously showed that a walking exercise intervention for patients with mild cognitive decline improved cognitive function.) This research was published April 24, 2014 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. The entire study report can now be read online at http://tinyurl.com/kqhxhhy without cost.

FRI., APR. 25, 2014: JUST-RELEASED NATURAL HEALTH STUDY

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MAY HELP PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A study of older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer’s shows that moderate physical activity protects brain health and staves off shrinkage of the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for memory and spatial orientation that is attacked first in this always-fatal disease. Exercise may delay cognitive decline and symptom onset in these individuals. Scientists tracked four groups of healthy adults aged 65-89 with normal cognitive abilities, over 18 months, and measured their hippocampus volume by MRIs before and after. The groups were classified both for low or high Alzheimer’s risk and for low or high physical activity levels. Of all four of these groups, only those at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s who also did not exercise experienced a decrease in hippocampal volume (3 percent) over the 18-month period. All other groups, including those at high risk for Alzheimer’s but who were physically active, maintained the volume of their hippocampus. (The lead researcher previously showed that a walking exercise intervention for patients with mild cognitive decline improved cognitive function.) This research was published April 24, 2014 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. The entire study report can now be read online at http://tinyurl.com/kqhxhhy without cost.