SINC
03/05/2025 – 19:17h.
An increase in physical activity between 45 and 65 could help prevent Alzheimer’s, while inactivity would be detrimental to brain Health. This is the main conclusion of a scientific article published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
According to the world Health Organization (WHO) it is advisable to perform 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity per week or 75 to 150 minutes of intense activity per week.
Although it has widely investigated how exercise reduces Alzheimer’s risk by improving cardiovascular and mental health, recent studies suggest that physical activity can have a direct impact on the development of brain pathologies related to the disease.
The article highlights the need to promote physical activity in medium -sized adults since it is estimated that 13 % of cases of world’s Alzheimer’s cases can be attributed to the sedentary lifestyle.
results Analysis
The investigation has been the result of a collaboration between the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal), promoted by the “La Caixa” Foundation, and Barcelona Sal Brain Research Center (BBRC), of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation.
Led by Eider Arenaza-Urquijo, researcher at Isglobal, has had the participation of 337 people belonging to the Alfa Study (Alzheimer’s and Families), of the BBRC.
“We monitored four -age residents with four years with a family history of Alzheimer’s in Catalonia,” explains Müge Akıncı, a doctoral researcher in Isglobal and first author of the article.
“We use physical activity questionnaires to evaluate the change in activity in a period of 4 years, and neuroimaging tests in order to analyze the effects of exercise on brain structure and function,” he adds.
To do this, people qualified for adherents (that is, the WHO recommendations followed), not adherents (performed a physical activity less than recommended) and sedentary (zero minutes of physical activity a week).
Effects on brain mechanisms
Beta amyloid (Aβ) is a protein that can hinder neuronal communication if it accumulates in the brain, and is considered the first pathological event of Alzheimer’s disease.
Those participants who increased their physical activity to the levels recommended by WHO presented a lower accumulation of beta amyloid compared to those who maintained a sedentary lifestyle or reduced their physical activity. In addition, it seems to be dose-dependent; A greater increase in activity, greater reduction in amyloid load.
Non -sedentary participants also showed greater cortical thickness in brain -related brain regions. Cortical thickness in medial temporal areas is key to memory, so its thinning or atrophy (loss of volume) is an early sign of neurodegeneration.
“Even those people who carried out a physical activity less than the recommended one showed higher cortical thickness than the sedentary ones, which suggests that any level of movement, however, provides health benefits,” says Müge akıncı.
Exercise as prevention
The research team studied both the increase in physical activity and adherence to WHO recommendations. They observed that the benefit of physical activity seems to be related to the increase in exercise over time, rather than compliance with a specific activity threshold.
“These results reinforce the importance of promoting exercise in median age as a public health strategy for the prevention of Alzheimer’s,” says Eider Arenaza-Urquijo.
“Interventions aimed at promoting the increase in physical activity could be key to reducing the incidence of disease in the future,” he concludes.
