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MELBOURNE (HeraldSun), September 5, 2008:
By Grant McArthur
STEPPING out for exercise can help over-50s take a walk down memory lane and stave off dementia, new research reveals.
A Melbourne-led study has found that walking for 2 1/2 hours a week can significantly improve memory for older people.
The 18-month study, led by the University of Melbourne, found the benefits of exercise were greater for overcoming mild cognitive impairments than using medication.
Lead author and head of old-age psychiatry at the university, Prof Nicola Lautenschlager, said the study was the first in the world to prove that moderate exercise can help improve memory and brain function.
"We have known for a long time that exercise is a great way to improve cardiovascular health, but it may be that in the future exercise can also be recommended to protect against the ageing brain," she said.
"The next step is how can we translate this back into the community.
Prof Nicola Lautenschlager
nicolal@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
"You can work on offering physical activity programs, which people can access via their GP or senior centres. That would be ideal.
"The question now is will it be possible if you bring in programs like this into the community to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, so that instead of getting it at 65 or 70 years of age, they get it five years later?
"That is the key question, but we can't answer it yet."
In conjunction with the University of Western Australia, the study focused on 170 people with mild memory and cognitive problems.
It found those who increased their exercise by an average of 20 minutes a day greatly improved their memory, concentration and ability to copy complex figures.
Using the standard cognitive test for evaluating medication in the US -- including a list of 12 words -- the research showed improved memory at the end of the six-month trial as well as follow-up testing after six months and a year.
While the theory is yet to be tested on those with serious cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer's disease, results published in The Journal of the American Medical Association show it was almost three times as effective in improving memory for mildly impaired subjects as dementia medication donepezil.
Prof Lautenschlager presented the results at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease in Chicago in July, and it is now being followed up around the world to determine if exercise can halt or even reverse degenerative ageing diseases.
Courtesy: GoForYourLife
Bushwalking Victoria president David Reid, 71, has been walking for exercise for 50 years and is not surprised to learn that it helps the brain. "There is a lot of mental stimulation, particularly when you walk with other people," Mr Reid said.
"You are also forced to use your memory otherwise you get lost, even if it is metropolitan parks, because there is such a network of little pathways that if you don't memorise where you have been you can easily become disorientated."
© Herald and Weekly Times.
Prof Nicola Lautenschlager
nicolal@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
"You can work on offering physical activity programs, which people can access via their GP or senior centres. That would be ideal.
"The question now is will it be possible if you bring in programs like this into the community to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, so that instead of getting it at 65 or 70 years of age, they get it five years later?
"That is the key question, but we can't answer it yet."
In conjunction with the University of Western Australia, the study focused on 170 people with mild memory and cognitive problems.
It found those who increased their exercise by an average of 20 minutes a day greatly improved their memory, concentration and ability to copy complex figures.
Using the standard cognitive test for evaluating medication in the US -- including a list of 12 words -- the research showed improved memory at the end of the six-month trial as well as follow-up testing after six months and a year.
While the theory is yet to be tested on those with serious cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer's disease, results published in The Journal of the American Medical Association show it was almost three times as effective in improving memory for mildly impaired subjects as dementia medication donepezil.
Prof Lautenschlager presented the results at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease in Chicago in July, and it is now being followed up around the world to determine if exercise can halt or even reverse degenerative ageing diseases.
Courtesy: GoForYourLife
Bushwalking Victoria president David Reid, 71, has been walking for exercise for 50 years and is not surprised to learn that it helps the brain. "There is a lot of mental stimulation, particularly when you walk with other people," Mr Reid said.
"You are also forced to use your memory otherwise you get lost, even if it is metropolitan parks, because there is such a network of little pathways that if you don't memorise where you have been you can easily become disorientated."
© Herald and Weekly Times.
