Walking or gardening would be beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients. Moderate but regular activity would slow cognitive decline.
From the age of 65, the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease rises between 2 and 4% in the general population. Then it increases rapidly. To reach 15% at age 80. Thus, approximately 900,000 people suffer from it today in France. And the forecasts are hardly optimistic. The sick are expected to be 1.3 million in 2020, taking into account the increase in life expectancy.
In the hope of finding solutions for these patients, scientists are working tirelessly. This is the case of a team from the University of Kansas (United States) who reminds that nothing can replace good daily physical activity habits, to keep your brain healthy.
Relayed by the site health log, this work was carried out on 92 volunteers with and without a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. In the research protocol, we can read that all the participants were followed at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Kansas. All were fitted with accelerometers for a week. The data collected and then analyzed show that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have different daily activity profiles than healthy participants.
Walking, optimal activity
For example, and this is not a surprise, “Alzheimer’s” patients practice less physical activity. That is, they spend less time doing moderate-intensity activities and organize them differently throughout the day. In particular, they are much less active in the morning. “This point can guide health professionals so that they stimulate people with dementia and improve their sleep,” warns the team.
As a key to developing effective interventions, these researchers confirm that walking is still the best activity. “Walking around the neighborhood or any activity performed ‘in the light’, such as tai chi, gardening, shopping, might be enough to keep the slightly declining people on the move,” they write. The authors point out that these actions could help our seniors achieve what they call “motor planning”.
In summary, people with Alzheimer’s disease don’t need to go to the gym, they just need to do something that keeps them moving and keeps them from sitting down all the time.
A large-scale study already planned
Principal author of this study, published in Journal of Alzheimer’s DiseaseUniversity of Kansas clinical psychologist Prof Amber Watts comments, “We know that physically active people are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. But we also know that in people who already have the disease, physical activity contributes to better functioning, slower cognitive decline and calmed symptoms ”. A little physical activity could therefore play a protective role against the agitation, wandering and insomnia of which many Alzheimer’s patients are victims.
To confirm these results on a larger number of participants, health log indicates that a new large-scale study is already scheduled: “There will be hundreds of patients who will wear accelerometers for several weeks and all this data will allow us to study their activity, their sleep, and the relationship between these two factors. », Concludes the team.
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