Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness

New study explores whether regular exercise can lower your risk of dementia

Does prioritizing your fitness help protect your brain health?

By
man exercising running around outdoors dark grey sky
Zakaria / Pexels

We all want to protect our brains and bodies from disease and decline and stay sharp and vibrant throughout the decades. Regular exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle, and it brings a range of benefits, from lowering blood pressure to perking up your mood and prompting the release of feel-good endorphins. Your training habits can benefit your physical health and your brain health, too. For example, an interesting study showed that people who took part in aerobic fitness training had increased brain volume and white and gray matter. 

Physical activity can sharpen problem-solving, memory, and learning and reduce depression or anxiety. Another study concluded that cognitive decline is nearly twice as common in adults who are inactive compared to active adults. In a recent study, researchers wanted to look at how exercise lowered the risk of dementia. Let’s take a look at the study and the results.

Recommended Videos

The study

guy doing push ups working out white background plank pose
Keiji Yoshiki / Pexels

In a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers wanted to investigate how cardiorespiratory fitness affected the risk of dementia, taking genetic predisposition into account. The researchers looked at data from 61,214 adult participants who didn’t have dementia. 

Related

The researchers identified dementia cases through medical records and assessed genetic predisposition. They used a six-minute submaximal cycling test to determine the participants’ cardiovascular fitness and estimate maximal oxygen consumption or VO2 max. The participants also took neuropsychological tests to evaluate their reaction time, processing speed, and memory. The researchers looked closely at the data to analyze the relationship between cardiovascular fitness and genetic predisposition.

The results

man on treadmill picture running by window
Will Picture This / Pexels

In conclusion, the researchers reported a positive association between a high cardiovascular fitness level and cognitive function across all age groups. High cardiovascular fitness levels were associated with a 40% lower overall risk of dementia and a delayed dementia onset by 1.48 years on average. For individuals with a high predisposed risk of dementia, high cardiovascular fitness was associated with a 35% lower risk of dementia.

What is cardiovascular fitness?

man running with headphones on beach.
Leandro Boogalu / Pexels

Cardiovascular fitness refers to your ability to deliver oxygen to your working muscles and your heart. Another interesting study revealed that higher cardiovascular fitness levels were linked with a lower risk of heart and blood vessel disorders and complications.

What we can learn from this research

high intensity interval training man climbing a rope circuit training high intensity exercise
Leonardho / Pexels

This research shows that having good fitness levels could lower your risk of dementia, delay its onset by up to 18 months, and enhance your cognitive performance. This study shows us that even those with a higher genetic risk of developing dementia can lower that risk with regular exercise. Prioritizing your fitness helps protect your brain health, heart health, and more.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…
Can doing bicep curls on one arm boost strength in the other? Study finds out
Is it possible that doing bicep curls with your left arm somehow impacts the muscles in your right arm?
Muscular man bicep curling weight in one hand

When you’re only curling a dumbbell with one arm, you might think the other arm just hangs out, unaffected. In a fascinating new study, researchers set out to explore whether only training one arm would affect muscle strength and size in the other when we don’t train that side. Is it possible that doing bicep curls with your left arm somehow impacts the muscles in your right arm? Let’s take a look at the research. 
The study

In a study published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, researchers wanted to understand whether unilateral or single-limb training with heavy weights impacted the strength in the non-working arm. The focus was on neural adaptations and muscle strength and size. 
The study methods

Read more
Can you burn body fat just by walking and wearing a weighted vest? New research
It might be time to put on that weighted vest and start walking in the great outdoors.
man taking break from running working out walking wearing weighted vest outdoors in city near train track

Rucking has continued to pick up steam in recent years as people search for more interesting and effective ways to get moving and burn calories. Rucking involves walking in the great outdoors wearing a weighted rucksack on your back. Research shows the benefits of rucking, from improving muscular power and oxygen intake to burning more calories and lifting your mood. Recently, researchers wanted to understand whether walking in a weighted vest could burn body fat. Let’s take a look at the study.
The study

In a recent study published in The Lancet, researchers examined how additional weights impacted fat loss and the leptin hormone. Your leptin levels are directly related to your body fat percentage. Your body releases leptin to help regulate your hunger and give you a full feeling to prevent overeating. Leptin was only discovered in 1994. Leptin resistance leads to feelings of hunger that urge you to eat more even though your body has sufficient fat stores.

Read more
Run clubs are the new nightclubs — Strava data shows huge rise in popularity
Running clubs are the new social hotspots allowing people to socialize and stay active.
Group of people running

Having an accountability partner and someone you go running with can help you stay motivated and make you more likely to show up and get moving. Joining a run club allows you to meet new people who are also interested in health and fitness so that you can encourage and support each other. The benefits of running are abundant, from improving your heart health and bone density to burning calories and lifting your mood. Running clubs are another way to incorporate running into your workout schedule and get additional benefits. New Strava data shows a huge rise in the popularity of run clubs. It turns out that run clubs might just be the new nightclubs. Let’s look at the data and the benefits of running clubs.
The data

Strava is an app designed for active people. Recently, Strava released the Year In Sport: Trend Report, identifying the leading trends and surges of 2024. The report combines billions of unique activity data from the global community of over 135 million people, along with insights from a randomized, global survey of over 5,000 people.

Read more