Experts pinpoint the best age to start exercising if you want to reduce your risk of developing dementia
Making sure you keep up a regular exercise regime from your mid-forties onwards could reduce your risk of developing dementia, according to a new study.
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer, and It’s long been said that 45 per cent of cases could be prevented with lifestyle changes made earlier in life, including making time for physical activity.
However, it wasn’t known at what age exercise had the most preventative power, inspiring a research team from Boston University to take a closer look.
Led by Dr Phillip H. Hwang from the Department of Epidemiology, they looked at data taken from 4,354 adults who were the offspring of participants in the Framingham Heart Study.
They wanted to see what level of physical activity people did at different stages of their lives, and whether it affected their risk of developing dementia.
The subjects—none of whom had dementia—were split into three groups; 1,526 early adults with an average age around 37; 1,943 midlife adults with an average age around 54; and 885 late-life adults whose average age was around 71.
To assess how exercise affected their dementia risk, the researchers looked at if they had developed the disease after a set follow-up period.
This period varied by group, with the early adults followed-up after 37 years, the midlife adults after 25, and the late-life group after 14 years.
Exercising in mid-life reduces your chance of developing dementia by nearly half
Over the course of the study, 567 people developed dementia, with 369 of those being categorised as Alzheimer’s Disease.
Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia and affects 982,000 people in the UK.
Alzheimer’s Research UK analysis found 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022 compared with 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country’s biggest killer.
Looking at the data, the scientists concluded that there was no link between how active people were in early adulthood and their risk of getting dementia later on.
However, being physically active in midlife and late-life was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.
Physical activity was self-reported using the physical activity index (PAI), a composite score made up from looking at the number of hours spent sleeping and in sedentary, slight, moderate, or heavy activities.
Using information from the PAI, the subjects were placed into five groups from Q1 (least active) to Q5 (most active).
People who were most active (Q5) in midlife had a roughly 41 per cent lower risk of dementia compared to the least active group (Q1).
The people who were most active (Q5) in late life had a roughly 45 per cent lower risk of dementia compared to the least active group (Q1).
The findings, published in medical journal JAMA, were similar specifically for Alzheimer’s disease, which was the most common type of dementia in the study. This mirrors real life, as Alzheimer’s accounts for 60 per cent of all dementia cases.
Dr Hwang said: ‘We found that higher physical activity levels in midlife and late-life were associated with similar reductions in all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease dementia risk.
‘These findings may inform future efforts to delay or prevent dementia through timing interventions and public health promotion efforts during the most relevant stages of the adult life course.’
There were some limitations with this study, including that most of the participants were white, so care needs to be taken when applying the findings to people of other ethnic backgrounds.
Furthermore, the PAI measurements may have been misclassified or inaccurate as the data was self-reported.
Experts have warned for years that being stationary for too much of the day raises the risk of numerous health problems including weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cancer and even an early grave.
The NHS recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week—or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.
Sedentary lifestyles in the UK, with Brits spending their working hours deskbound, then sitting in a train or car on their way home to sit down in front of the TV, have been estimated to kill thousands each year.
One 2019 estimate put the annual death toll at 70,000 people a year with the health issues caused costing the NHS £700million each year to treat.
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