"It's okay to postpone exercise"… Exercising intensively on weekends also reduces the risk of dementia

A study has shown that exercising intensively on weekends can be just as effective as exercising regularly and frequently in reducing the risk of cognitive decline that can lead to dementia.

Professor Gary Odono's team at Los Andes University in Colombia, USA, conducted a study on 10,033 residents of Mexico City with an average age of 51. The research team used survey data on exercise patterns from 1998 to 2004 and surveys investigating mild cognitive impairment from 2015 to 2019 to track the relationship between exercise patterns and cognitive decline over 16 years.

In the first survey, participants were divided into four groups: a non-exercising group (7,945 people), a weekend warrior group who exercised 1-2 times a week (726 people), a regular exercise group who exercised three or more times a week (1,362 people), and a combined group of weekend warriors and regular exercisers (2,088 people). In the second survey, cognitive decline was assessed using a brief mental status test. A score of 22 points or less out of 30 was classified as cognitive impairment. During the study period, 2,400 individuals were diagnosed with cognitive impairment, with prevalence rates by group being 26% in the non-exercising group, 14% in the weekend warriors, and 18.5% in the regular exercise group.

According to the research findings, the risk of cognitive impairment in weekend warriors was 25% lower than in non-exercisers, 11% lower in the regular exercise group, and 16% lower in the combined group of weekend warriors and regular exercisers. The risk of cognitive impairment by group was 13% lower in weekend warriors compared to non-exercisers, and 12% lower in the regular exercise and combined groups. These effects were similar in both men and women. The research team explained that exercise may contribute to increased neurotrophic factors that support the growth and survival of nerve cells, as well as improve brain functionality.

Professor Gary Odono, the lead author of the study, said, "This study is observational and cannot establish causality," but it also implies that theoretically, exercising at least once or twice a week during middle age can reduce the risk of dementia by 13%.

This study was recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

<Source: Health Chosun>