‘Just walk your way to good health’ is the new agenda as far as medical conditions are concerned. In other words, scientists from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) have revealed that exercise could ward off Alzheimer’s disease even in patients as old as above 80 years.
As part of the trial, nearly 716 individuals with median age 82 were examined. They were instructed to sport an actigraph around their wrists to gauge the levels of physical exertion for a span of 10 days. Subsequently, annual tests were undertaken to comprehend the participants’ thinking and memory capacities. In the course of the study, approximately 71 persons developed the condition.
“The study showed that not only exercise but also activities such as cooking, washing the dishes and cleaning are associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These results provide support for efforts to encourage physical activity in even very old people who might not be able to participate in formal exercise but can still benefit from a more active lifestyle,” commented study author Aron S. Buchman, MD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
Self-reports of social and physical activities were also included in the data. The team found that people falling into the lower scale of 10% in terms of daily exercise seemed to face more than twice the risk seen in individuals on the upper scale of the same.
Alternately, those belonging to the lower 10% group with respect to the intensity of the activities apparently encountered thrice the risk factor observed in people who scored well. Something interesting about this study was that daily activities like playing a game, washing vessels, or moving a chair appeared to be associated with lower Alzheimer’s risk and did not include exercise alone.
The study is published in the recent issue of the journal, Neurology.