{"id":55244,"date":"2025-11-29T01:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55244\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T01:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:51:11","slug":"alzheimers-risk-declines-sharply-with-one-daily-lifestyle-change-researchers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55244\/","title":{"rendered":"Alzheimer’s risk declines sharply with one daily lifestyle change, researchers say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Increasing\u00a0physical activity\u00a0<\/a>in midlife or later may reduce the chances of developing dementia<\/a> by up to 45%, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health analyzed data from more than 4,300 people in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring, all of whom were dementia-free at the start of the study.<\/p>\n

The individuals completed a questionnaire reporting their\u00a0amount of sleep<\/a>\u00a0and level of physical activity (sedentary, slight, moderate or heavy), according to the study report.<\/p>\n

Study design and key findings<\/p>\n

The researchers analyzed the individuals\u2019 physical activity throughout three life stages \u2014 early adult (ages 26-44 years), midlife (45-64 years) and\u00a0late life\u00a0(65-88 years).<\/p>\n

They followed the participants for an average span of 37.2, 25.9 and 14.5 years, respectively, to monitor the onset of Alzheimer\u2019s and other types of dementia.<\/p>\n

Increasing\u00a0physical activity\u00a0in midlife or later may reduce the chances of developing dementia. Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

Those in the top two quintiles of midlife physical activity were associated with a 40% lower all-cause dementia risk over a 26-year period, compared to those with the lowest activity level.<\/p>\n

People in the top two quintiles of late-life physical activity were associated with a 36% to 45% lower\u00a0dementia risk<\/a>\u00a0over 15 years.<\/p>\n

Brain scans showing Amyloid and Tau imaging for clinically normal brains and those with Alzheimer\u2019s Dementia. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results may help to inform more precise and effective strategies to prevent or delay the onset of dementia in later life, and support evidence that the benefits of physical activity on the brain may extend to earlier in life than previously thought,\u201d study author Phillip Hwang, Ph.D., from the Department of Epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Higher activity in midlife was associated with lower dementia risk only in people without APOE4, a\u00a0genetic variant\u00a0<\/a>linked to higher Alzheimer\u2019s risk.<\/p>\n

However, this was not the case with the late-life higher activity group, which showed reduced dementia risk among both APOE4 carriers and those without the gene, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Researchers followed the participants for an average span of 37.2, 25.9 and 14.5 years Robert Kneschke \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Physical activity may also directly impact\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s disease pathology. Anatoliy Karlyuk \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The exercise-brain link<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several possible mechanisms through which physical activity is thought to lower the risk of dementia, such as improving brain structure and function, reducing inflammation and exerting benefits on\u00a0vascular function,\u201d Hwang told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Physical activity may also directly impact\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s disease pathology<\/a>, such as the buildup of toxic beta-amyloid in the brain, according to the researcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese potential mechanisms may contribute to facilitating cognitive reserve, which can delay late-life cognitive impairment.\u201d<\/p>\n

More research is needed to understand whether these possible causes all happen at the same time throughout a person\u2019s life, or if different causes emerge at different stages, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

Expert reactions<\/p>\n

Dr. Cathryn Devons, M.D., who specializes in\u00a0geriatric medicine\u00a0at Phelps Hospital Northwell Health in Sleepy Hollow, New York, was not part of the study but commented on the findings.<\/p>\n

Exercise can lower the risk of hypertension, stroke, vascular disease, cholesterol levels and diabetes \u2014 \u201call the things that put you at risk for\u00a0circulatory problems\u00a0to the brain,\u201d she told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

The doctor also noted that exercise is known to help to reduce inflammation, which can protect brain health.<\/p>\n

Dr. Cathryn Devons, M.D noted that exercise is known to help to reduce inflammation, which can protect brain health. Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

Study limitations<\/p>\n

One limitation of the study is that physical activity was based on self-reporting, Hwang told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we can say from these results that higher levels of overall physical activity are associated with reduced dementia risk, these results cannot translate well to recommendations about\u00a0specific exercise types,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Also, the level of physical activity in early adulthood was not linked with all-cause dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s dementia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may have been underpowered to detect associations with early adult life physical activity due to the small number of dementia cases in this age group,\u201d the authors noted.<\/p>\n

Devons agreed that while the study may have limitations, it supports the idea of exercise lowering the risk of dementia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Increasing\u00a0physical activity\u00a0in midlife or later may reduce the chances of developing dementia by up to 45%, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29762,177,2953,232,9,11,10,3730,2956],"class_list":["post-55244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-dementia","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-research","tag-senior-citizens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}