New research led by Johns Hopkins finds that low amounts of moderate to vigorous exercise can drastically reduce dementia risk, even for frail older adults.
A new study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reveals that engaging in just 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week can significantly reduce the risk of developing dementia. This finding comes from data analyzed from nearly 90,000 adults in the UK and offers new hope for older adults, particularly those who are frail or at heightened risk of adverse health outcomes.
“Our findings suggest that increasing physical activity, even as little as five minutes per day, can reduce dementia risk in older adults,” lead author Amal Wanigatunga, an assistant professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology and a core faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, said in a news release.
The research, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, indicated that participants who engaged in 35 to 69.9 minutes of physical activity per week had a 60% lower risk of dementia. This risk further decreased as activity levels increased, showcasing a 63% reduction in those active for 70 to 139.9 minutes and a 69% reduction for those exceeding 140 minutes per week.
For this extensive analysis, the team examined data from the UK Biobank project, involving adults in their 50s and older who wore wrist-worn accelerometers to log their physical activity between 2013 and 2015.
Dementia, commonly resulting from Alzheimer’s disease, impacts about 7 million people in the United States, including nearly a third of those aged 85 and older.
The findings from this study are particularly impactful as they suggest that even minimal physical activity can have significant benefits, making it accessible and achievable even for vulnerable populations.
This news is encouraging in light of current guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the UK National Health System, which recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise weekly. This amount can seem daunting for many older adults, particularly those with frailty.
“This adds to a growing body of evidence that some exercise is better than nothing, especially with regard to an aging-related disorder that affects the brain and currently has no cure,” Wanigatung added.
The researchers stressed that their study is observational and does not establish causation but aligns well with the hypothesis that exercise mitigates dementia risk. They also controlled their analysis for potential biases by excluding early dementia diagnoses within the initial two years of follow-up.
Future studies could build on these insights, investigating the clinical benefits of low-dose exercise as an initial step towards comprehensive physical activity strategies for dementia prevention.
This discovery provides a beacon of hope and suggests that even small, manageable increases in physical activity can serve as a robust defense against one of the most challenging conditions of old age.