People aged over 65 who walk regularly or do other forms of moderate exercise may greatly lower their risk of developing vascular dementia, according to an Italian study.

As well as the many recognised benefits of a daily walk -- such as lowered blood pressure, weight control, higher levels of energy, better sleep – moderate exercise appears to significantly lower the risk of developing vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, and as populations in most countries age, there is the threat of what has been labelled in Australia as a “dementia epidemic”.

Reduce the Risk of Developing Dementia

However, this Italian study offers hope for physically active seniors and their families to reduce their risk of developing dementia.

The four-year study, by Dr Giovanni Ravaglia, at University Hospital S. Orsola Malpighi, in Bologna, and his colleagues, involved 749 Italians over the age of 65 who did not have memory problems at the beginning of the study.

Exercise From Regular Activities

The researchers measured the amount of energy the participants used weekly in their regular activities, including walking, climbing stairs, and moderate activities, such as house and yard work, gardening, and light carpentry.

These were all activities that participants regularly did, although the rates of exercise varied across the 749 seniors, who the researchers divided into three groups according to their levels of activity.

The researchers also compared the energy used by the participants in more vigorous activities such as sports and gym classes.

By the end of the four years, out of 749 participants, 54 had developed Alzheimer’s disease and 27 had vascular dementia.

Dementia Risk Lowered by Almost One-Third

One-third of participants -- those who had exerted the most energy walking -- were found to be 27 per cent less likely to develop vascular dementia than those people in the bottom one-third, who did the least exercise.

People who scored in the top one-third for the most energy exerted in moderate activities other than walking lowered their risk of vascular dementia by 29 percent, while those in the top one-third for total physical activity lowered their risk by 24 percent compared to those with the lowest rates of exercise.

“In this cohort, physical activity is associated with a lower risk of vascular dementia but not of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr Ravaglia wrote in the abstract of the paper, Physical activity and dementia risk in the elderly, published in the December 19, 2007, online issue of Neurology.

Regular Moderate Exercise the Key

“Our findings show moderate physical activity, such as walking, and all physical activities combined lowered the risk of vascular dementia in the elderly independent of sociodemographic, genetic and medical factors.”

Dr Ravaglia pointed out that moderate activity such as housework, yard work, climbing stairs, gardening and light carpentry all provided the same cognitive benefits as walking, and that more demanding activities were not necessary to get this protective effect against vascular dementia.

However, he said further research is needed to understand “the biologic mechanisms operating between physical activity and cognition”.

See also: Getting Older People Walking

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