Vigorous Mental and Physical Activity Decreases Risk of Dementia

Based on information from the WHO, approximately 55 million people worldwide have dementia, an overarching term for a series of neurodegenerative diseases. On July 27, 2022, researchers published a study in Neurology that suggested vigorous mental and physical activity can decrease the risk of developing dementia.

Some common examples of dementia are Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lewy body, vascular, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and frontotemporal.

Symptoms of dementia change based on the stage and severity of the illness. Typical symptoms include memory issues, impaired decision-making, language and communication difficulties, limited depth perception, and mood changes.

Based on information from the Alzheimer's Society, most dementia patients have a reduced lifespan, with the prognosis being based on the stage at diagnosis, comorbidities, and age of onset.

Using data from the UK Biobank, researchers looked at 501,375 patients who did not have dementia from 2006 to 2010. They followed up with these patients through the end of 2019 and collected data on physical and mental activity.

Throughout the follow-up, there were 5,185 dementia cases in this cohort.

The study concluded that increased frequency of vigorous physical activity reduced the risk of dementia and presented a hazard ratio of 0.65. Furthermore, housework-related activities reduced the risk of developing dementia by 21%.

Additionally, frequent friend and family visits correlated with a 15% reduced risk of dementia.

As most forms of dementia cannot be cured, understanding risk factors and ways to reduce risk are essential strategies in disease prevention. The Cleveland Clinic states that common treatments to manage dementia symptoms include medication, therapy, and additional emotional support.

Providers may suggest deep brain stimulation to deliver constant electrical impulses to the brain in more severe forms of dementia, specifically those related to motor difficulties such as Parkinson’s disease dementia.

While this data may have some implications in neurology research, additional studies must be conducted to determine the strength of the connection between activity and dementia.

“Activity patterns more adherent to frequent vigorous and other exercises, housework-related activity, and friend/family visits were associated with a reduced risk of multiple types of dementia. Such associations are independent of disease susceptibility, highlighting the potential of these physical and mental activity patterns, as effective interventions, in the primary prevention of dementia,” concluded the researchers in the publication.