A study has revealed that Physical exercise between 45 and 65 can reduce Alzheimer’s risk. On the contrary, a sedentary lifestyle would be very harmful to brain Health. The investigation has been carried out, together, the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal) and Barcelona Sal Brain Research Center (BBRC).
This report relates the level of physical activity of people with the accumulation of beta amyloid protein. This can hinder communication between neurons if it accumulates in the brain, so physical exercise would help reduce the storage of such protein. Precisely, the study indicates this cumulative factor as “the first pathological event of Alzheimer’s”.
The First author of the studyMüge Akınc, has indicated that the study has been carried out with 337 people – between 45 and 65 years – throughout Catalonia, for four years. Once the object of study was determined, the researchers prescribed to the people of the sample to perform physical activity according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The author of the study has detailed that the subjects of the investigation “had a family history of Alzheimer.”
Once the lifestyle of the subjects was analyzed, the investigators classified them as adherent people (The WHO recommendations followed), Not adherents (they performed physical activity below the recommended) and sedentary (zero physical exercise).
The results have been cataloged as “dose-dependent”, since those subjects who followed the WHO indications have accumulated less beta amyloid protein than others who reduced the frequency with which they performed physical exercise or adopted a more sedentary lifestyle. In that sense, the Isglobal researcher who has led the study, Eider Arenaza-urquijo, has stated that the results “They could be key to reducing the incidence of Alzheimer’s in the future”.
What does WHO recommend?
WHO proposes between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate physical exercise or between 75 and 150 intense minutes per week. Moreover, those subjects who opted for a sedentary lifestyle have turned out to have a higher cortical thickness in some regions of the brain related to Alzheimer’s, such as medial temporal areas, Keys in memory. The Isglobal estimates that in 13% Alzheimer’s cases may be due to an absence of physical activity.
Precisely, the organization urges adults to “carry out activities of Moderate intensity muscle strengthening or higher to work all the large muscle groups two or more days a week, since this reports additional benefits. ”
