Aerobic exercises reduce dementia risk
To get the heart pumping and help jog your memory, researchers suggest people can benefit from aerobic exercises. A study last week shows a link between aerobic exercises and the preservation of cognitive abilities.
To get the heart pumping and help jog your memory, researchers suggest people can benefit from aerobic exercises.
A study last week shows a link between aerobic exercises and the preservation of cognitive abilities.
Aerobic exercise is the physical exercise of relatively low intensity and long duration. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, and refers to the use of oxygen in the body’s metabolic or energy-generating process.
America’s Mayo Clinic reveals aerobic exercises, which can include anything from climbing stairs, stationary bicycles, kick-boxing, running or jogging, should not be overlooked as a possible technique in reducing the risk of dementia.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic broadly defined exercise as “enough aerobic physical activity to raise the heart rate and increase the body’s need for oxygen”.
“We culled through all the scientific literature we could find on the subject of exercise and cognition, including animal studies and observational studies, reviewing over 1,600 papers, with 130 bearing directly on this issue. We attempted to put together a balanced view of the subject,” Eric Ahlskog, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic, says.
Researchers claim exercise can be a disease-modifying strategy to prevent dementia and mild cognitive impairment, and indicate the majority of brain imaging studies show “objective evidence of favourable effects of exercise on human brain integrity”.
Despite the findings, more research into the relationship between exercise and cognitive function is required; although researchers encourage exercise for people with or without cognitive difficulties.
