Dr Anna Rolleston The Cardiac Clinic

Dementia is on the rise in our society and it has devastating consequences for individuals and their families.

Dementia is associated with a loss of neurons in the brain in key areas that service memory and complex thinking. People with dementia lose brain mass in these key areas and the brain gets smaller over time. Interestingly, these areas of the brain are very receptive to exercise and have shown to increase in size in response to regular moderate intensity exercise. This means that exercise has the potential to help our brain ward off dementia by maintaining brain mass and even increasing brain mass and therefore function.

Just 30 to 40 minutes of exercise on three to five days each week is all that is required to achieve these brain benefits. Moderate intensity is well known to produce these changes although there is some evidence that the higher the intensity the greater the benefit. A bit more work needs to be done though with high-intensity exercise to really accurately quantify the benefit.

So if you have a family history of dementia then regular moderate intensity exercise should be part of your weekly lifestyle.

For family members that may have already started to experience symptoms or who have a dementia diagnosis, slowly progressing into an exercise programme is helpful for reducing symptoms.

The other mental health benefits of exercise, including positive mood, anxiety and depression management, are also helpful for individuals with a dementia condition Remember also that the quality of the nutrients we eat also plays a part and plenty of greens plus a variety of other coloured vegetables will also support good brain health. No-one is ever too old to start exercise and the evidence suggests that improvements can be made at any stage of the dementia journey.