The intricacies behind what can cause dementia are still largely a mystery and highly debated. But a new study published [March 14] in Neurology offers more evidence that staying fit can keep both our bodies and minds sharp into our later years.
Swedish researchers pored through data from an ongoing project that first began in 1968, the Prospective Population Study of Women in Göteborg. More than 1,400 Swedish women from the ages of 38 to 60 were interviewed and medically examined, then had their health periodically tracked for the next several decades…
From 1968 to 2012, 44 of these women had been diagnosed with some form of dementia, most often Alzheimer’s disease. But women who had been categorized as highly fit—40 in total—were much less likely to develop it…
The researchers estimated that highly fit women were 88 percent less likely to develop dementia than even moderately fit women…
“These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people’s cardiovascular fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia,” said study author Helena Hörder, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg, in a statement.
The study isn’t the first of its kind to suggest that exercise can stave off dementia, though it might be the longest-spanning one…But these studies can’t tell us directly whether exercise is a key driver of preventing dementia, Hörder said.
Read full, original post: Physically Fit Women Were Almost 90% Less Likely to Get Dementia in 44-Year-Study
