June 29, 20107:01 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Early physical activity associated with late life wit
Many studies have associated physical activity with lessened chances of cognitive impairment during late life. A new study focusing on women has found that physical activity as a teenager is more highly associated with a lessened risk of late life cognitive impairment than at any other age. The study found that physical activity in women measured at age 30, age 50, and after age 65 significantly lowered the odds of impaired cognition later in life as well as during the teenage years. Laura Middleton, PhD, of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, in Toronto, and colleagues concluded that women should be encouraged to exercise throughout life as a deterrent to impaired cognition and that this encouragement should begin at an early age. Middleton stressed, “if we’re going to have exercise interventions to reduce the risk of dementia… it might be most important to target those people who have been inactive lifelong.” Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.
