Exercise can help elderly in fight against Alzheimer's

The most frail elderly people, exercising for short periods of time, registered the greatest gains in a recent cohort study.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Feb. 13, 2006.

Washington -- Evidence of the health benefits of regular exercise keeps mounting. A study has determined that regular exercise is associated with a delay in the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The study in the Jan. 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine found that older adults who exercised three or more times a week had a 30% to 40% lower risk for developing dementia compared with those who exercised fewer than three times per week.

Because many people regard Alzheimer's as one of the most dreaded consequences of aging, the findings might provide a compelling reason to heed health advice to get up and move, researchers say.

"Even those elderly people who did modest amounts of gentle exercise, such as walking for 15 minutes three times a week, appeared to benefit," said lead author Eric B. Larson, MD, director of Group Health Cooperative's Center for Health Studies in Seattle. Group Health is a nonprofit health care system.

The study followed 1,740 Group Health members age 65 and older over a six-year period. The participants were contacted every two years to assess exercise frequency, cognitive function, physical function, symptoms of depression and lifestyle characteristics, including smoking and alcohol use.

The participants listed walking, hiking, swimming, aerobics, calisthenics and weight training among exercises they performed.

After six years, 158 participants had developed dementia, and 107 of those had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.