Dr Cassandra Szoeke, who led the study, said:
“We now know that brain changes associated with dementia take 20 to 30 years to develop.
The evolution of cognitive decline is slow and steady, so we needed to study people over a long time period.
We used a verbal memory test because that’s one of the first things to decline when you develop Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Out of all the lifestyle changes, the number one protective factor was exercise.
It didn’t matter what type — from walking the dog to climbing a mountain — exercise was the lifestyle factor that provided the greatest protective effect against memory loss.
You should start as early as possible, Dr Szoeke said:
“We expected it was the healthy habits later in life that would make a difference but we were surprised to find that the effect of exercise was cumulative.
So every one of those 20 years mattered.
If you don’t start at 40, you could miss one or two decades of improvement to your cognition because every bit helps.
That said, even once you’re 50 you can make up for lost time.”
Category(s):Cognitive Problems Amnesia / Dementia
Source material from Psyblog
