Exercise in middle age protects the brain against Alzheimer's

An estimated 13% of cases of this neurodegenerative disease can be attributed to physical inactivity, according to researchers in a new study.

                                                                                        

Want to protect your aging brain? Get off the couch and move, researchers urge.

Increasing exercise in midlife may help people prevent Alzheimer's disease, according to a recent study.

People who increased their physical activity to meet recommended guidelines between ages 45 and 65 had less buildup of beta amyloid, a toxic protein that forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, researchers reported in the April 30 issue of the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.

                                                                                                   

The link was dose-dependent, the researchers added: the more people increased their activity, the greater the reduction in amyloid beta in their brains.

Active people also showed less age-related shrinkage in brain regions associated with memory and Alzheimer's, the researchers noted.

"Even those who did less physical activity than recommended had greater cortical thickness than sedentary people, suggesting that any amount of exercise, no matter how small, has health benefits," lead researcher Müge Akinci, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain, said in a press release.

                                                                                            

An estimated 13 percent of Alzheimer's disease cases worldwide can be attributed to physical inactivity, the researchers noted in background notes.

For the study, researchers tracked the brain health of 337 people in Catalonia, Spain, who were participating in a long-term Alzheimer's disease study.

"We used physical activity questionnaires to assess changes in activity over a four-year period and neuroimaging tests to analyze the effects of exercise on brain structure and function," Akinci said.

                                                                                          

People were classified according to physical activity guidelines that recommended 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity per week or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise.

The benefits of physical activity appear to be related to increased activity over time, rather than reaching a certain exercise threshold, the researchers added.

“These findings reinforce the importance of promoting physical activity in midlife as a public health strategy for Alzheimer's prevention,” said lead researcher Eider Arenaza-Urquijo of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.

“Interventions aimed at promoting increased physical activity could be key to reducing the incidence of the disease in the future,” Arenaza-Urquijo concluded in a press release.