The benefits of sport for health are well established. These new studies reveal that the practice of a sports activity would also be beneficial in delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and improving the effectiveness of treatments.
Indeed, playing sports would prevent the onset of the disease as well as other forms of dementia and would increase the effectiveness of treatments for those affected.
Researchers at the Dementia Research Center in Copenhagen (Denmark) studied 200 patients between the ages of 50 and 90 suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The first group was subjected to a program of physical exercises, ie sessions of 60 minutes 3 times a week for 16 weeks. The other group received only standard care without sports practice.
“People who participated in the exercise program had significantly fewer symptoms such as anxiety, irritability and depression compared to the non-exercise group,” the study authors found.
Researchers at Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston Salemn (United States) wanted to understand whether practicing a sport could lower the Pau protein (responsible for Alzheimer’s disease). Their study showed that after 6 months, sports activity had led to a significant reduction in this protein.
The third study conducted by Professor Teresa Liu-Ambrose of the University Of British Columbia (United States) showed that sport had improved cognitive functions, in particular memory and attention in patients.
In France, according to the latest figures from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), 860,000 people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and the number of patients should reach two million in 2020. Alzheimer’s and related diseases represent the leading cause of age-related loss of intellectual functions.
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