A new study says this simple change may reduce dementia risk by 50%

 

Until my spasticity is cured I'll never become a 'super mover'. Which means your competent? doctor has to have other protocols that prevent dementia.

A new study says this simple change may reduce dementia risk by 50%

By this point, we have all heard about the health benefits of walking—from helping manage blood sugar to boosting mood. However, a new study shows a simple change in how you walk may reduce your dementia risk by 50%—and it has nothing to do with walking 10,000 steps per day or for 15 minutes after every meal. Spoiler alert: It has to do with your pace.

The study published in Neurology on July 14 analyzed data from seven studies. Five were aging studies from the Health and Retirement Study International Network of Studies (HRS-INS) that involved approximately 4,000 older adults with an average age of about 84. The other two were smaller studies (the LonGenity Study and RUSH Memory Aging Project (RUSH MAP)) of adults ages 80 and older. The researchers used brain scans or examined post-mortem brain tissue.

"We studied adults aged 80 and older to identify a unique group we call ‘super movers’—people whose walking speed is comparable to that of adults in their 50s and 60s," says Joe Verghese, M.D., the head neurologist behind the new research and chair of neurology at Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. "We then compared their cognition with that of other adults the same age to understand what makes them different."

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What the study found

The results were drawn from follow-up periods between approximately 3.5 to 5.5 years and showed that the "super movers" had about a 50% lower risk of developing cognitive impairment than their peers and 60% less likely to report a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. They also had a slower decline in memory and thinking skills over time, which was measured by memory recall, processing speed, and mental flexibility tests.

"Even more surprisingly, despite having better cognitive function, they had similar levels of dementia-related brain pathology which suggests they may have resilience mechanisms that protect the brain from developing cognitive symptoms," says Dr. Verghese.

For example, “super mover” brains had bigger hippocampi (the part of the brain responsible for memory functioning), according to Erica Weiss, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist on the study and associate professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The takeaway

This new research not only supports the idea that you should walk more, but that you should pick up the pace if you can. "Gait speed at 80 years of age and older is one of the best single predictors of overall physiological health because it integrates cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurological, and metabolic function simultaneously," says Nir Barzilai, M.D., one of the study’s researchers and a professor from the department of genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "What this study captures isn't just ‘movement is good for the brain’; it's that whole-body biological aging pace shows up in how you walk, and that same pace protects every system."

Staying physically active and maintaining mobility should be viewed as an important part of brain health, adds Dr. Verghese. "Regular exercise, managing chronic medical conditions, and paying attention to changes in walking or balance may help preserve both physical independence and cognitive function as we age," he says.