Brain Tip: Walking Slows Cognitive Decline In Alzheimer’s Patients And Healthy People

From: Medical News Today November 29, 2010

Walking five miles per week may protect the brain and slow cognitive decline in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease, said researchers at a conference of medical imaging professionals in Chicago on Sunday; they also found that walking six miles a week did the same for healthy people.

Dr. Cyrus Raji, from the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, presented the findings of a study where he and his colleagues analyzed changes in brain volume among adults with varying degrees of congnitive impairment, including some with Alzheimer’s, and also healthy adults, whose weekly physical activity had been monitored in a cardiovascular study over the previous 10 years.

Speaking at the 96th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), being held this week in Chicago, Raji said:

“We found that walking five miles per week protects the brain structure over 10 years in people with Alzheimer’s and MCI [mild cognitive impairment], especially in areas of the brain’s key memory and learning centers.”

“We also found that these people had a slower decline in memory loss over five years,” he added.

MCI, short for Mild Cognitive Impairment, is where a person has more problems with memory and thinking skills than is typical for their age, but it is not as severe as that found in Alzheimer’s disease. About 50 per cent of people diagnosed with MCI progress to Alzheimer’s disease.

The numbers of Americans with MCI and Alzheimer’s is set to increase significantly over the next decade, based on current population trends.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, which is why researchers like Raji and colleagues are keen to find ways to alleviate the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease in people whose thinking and memory are already showing signs of decline.

Raji and colleagues recruited participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, which is still ongoing, and has been collecting data for 20 years, and analyzed the relationship between their physical activity and brain structure.

Their study involved 426 participants in all, comprising 127 cognitively impaired adults of average age 81 years, and 299 healthy adults of average age 78. Of the cognitively impaired participants, 83 had MCI and 44 had Alzheimer’s dementia.

The study data allowed the researchers to measure how far participants walked in a week. Then 10 years later they performed 3D MRI scans of their brains to look for changes in brain volume.

Raji explained that:

“Volume is a vital sign for the brain.”

“When it decreases, that means brain cells are dying. But when it remains higher, brain health is being maintained,” he said.