Daily physical activity protects against Alzheimer's, even in adults over 80

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(CBS News) By 2030, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease worldwide is expected to double to 80 million. But, a new study finds daily physical activity might provide a person's best chances of staving off the degenerative brain disorder - even if they're over 80 years old.

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The best part is older adults might not even need to break a sweat to get the protective effects. Activities such as cooking and cleaning led to a protective benefit. 

"Our study shows that physical activity, which is an easily modifiable risk factor, is associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease," study author Dr. Aron S. Buchman, associate professor of neurological sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said in a university written statement. "This has important public health consequences.

For Buchman's study, published April 18 in the journal Neurology, Rush researchers monitored 716 adults - average age of 82 - with a device called an actigraph for 10 days. An actigraph is worn on a person's non-dominant wrist and measures levels of daily activity, similar to a pedometer. Participants were also asked to self-report their physical and social activities.

Over a follow-up period that averaged 3.5 years, 71 of the adults developed Alzheimer's disease. The researchers determined participants in the bottom 10 percentile of daily physical activity where 2.3 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's, compared with older adults who were in the top 10 percentile of physical activity. What's more, participants in the bottom 10 percent of activity intensity were 2.8 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's as people who were most intense during physical activity.

Which activities were tied to better brain health?

The actigraph showed "activities like cooking, washing the dishes, playing cards and even moving a wheelchair with a person's arms were beneficial," Buchman said. "These are low-cost, easily accessible and side-effect free activities people can do at any age, including very old age, to possibly prevent Alzheimer's. These results provide support for efforts to encourage all types of physical activity even in very old adults who might not be able to participate in formal exercise, but can still benefit from a more active lifestyle."

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Michal Schnaider Beeri, an associate professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Dr. Laura Middleton, assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Waterloo in Toronto, Canada, wrote that the new study advances Alzheimer's research because previous studies relied on self-reports of physical activity, but this study backed up its results with an actigraph.

"These results may have substantial pragmatic implications for public health: motivating the elderly to be physically active, even if mobility is limited, may decrease their risk of developing (Alzheimer's)", they wrote. "In a world that is becoming progressively sedentary, and in the context of very limited success of the currently available medications to treat or delay AD, physical activity provides a promising, low-cost, easily accessible, and side effect-free means to prevent AD."

Earlier research suggests there are 7 "modifiable" risk factors for Alzheimer's that patients should avoid to protect themselves against dementia including smoking and eating healthy, HealthPop reported.

The Alzheimer's Association has more on the disease.

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Alzheimer's disease: 7 things that raise your risk

[maiingan]

It's all very well to urge physical activity for the old, but there are some maladies which can make it very hard. My mother, who passed away 2 years ago, had arthritis for many years, and peripheral neuropathy from long-undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes. Long before she had to go to a nursing home, she couldn't do enough for herself in the fields even of cooking and washing dishes. Years before, she'd had to give up swimming at the YMCA. Even getting around in a walker was very laborious. She never got Alzheimer's, but did have a bit of senile dementia which mostly manifested in the memory problems others report, such as repeating questions during a short time span.

[Zann-Zel]

If you're worried about this kind of thing - seriously - Square Dancing is an excellent way to keep active. Works your mind and your body and anyone can do it! Its Friendship set to Music! : )

[MagnaCartaUK]

I have heard it mentioned that mental stimulation in the form of tackling crosswords, puzzles, jigsaws and alike can help in some way, in addition to listening to music. I have no idea whether there's any substance to these claims, but my initial thoughts are that it may well do. One thing is for certain, and that is the subject needs to be taken far more seriously politically - but isn't that always the way? A very sad subject, yet one that needs to be confronted - and in that the media have a crucial role, so well done C.B.S.

[markag55]

Unfortunately, there are other "senile dementias." My grandfather developed Alzheimer's around age 80. He didn't recognize anyone, especially my father (his son-in-law of almost 40 years). He vaguely knew that my grandmother and my mother were relatives, but couldn't quite understand how.

My mother, on the other hand, had a different form of "dementia." She, in her 80's kept falling, and every time she did, had a continual lapse of memory. She didn't have Alzheimer's, however. She knew who everyone was, but would forget what you told her from one day to the next, and would forget that you had visited her. My mother was active as could be until she kept falling. Unfortunately, her last few years, until she died at 87, were miserably spent in a VA nursing home. At least it was new (in Edison, NJ) and all the employees seemed to be wonderful. My mother actually starved herself to death after hip replacement surgery. Her heart was still strong, but she had no desire to live longer. She refused all food and water, and died, basically, of malnutrition.

Even though she had some form of dementia, she knew what she wanted...and it was no more life as it had been. She finally died. I admire her for having the sense to decide her own fate.

As the Buddha said (even though I'm Jewish, and translated into what we in the West believe): "We all were not meant to be Methuselah."

[MagnaCartaUK]

'markag55', that's very sad indeed - and must have been pretty upsetting for you too. Fortunately none of my elderly relatives have suffered from this misery, (touch wood), but my elderly neighbour did, she was very close to us and changed from a lady with a fantastic mind to a lady who struggled to remember. She would call around and ask what day it was, and 20 minutes later would call and ask the same question. Truth be told we didn't quite know how to react, but continued to act as if everything was 'normal' - for want of a better word. I still don't know if that was the right thing to do till this day.