Health
Dementia risk could be lowered by doing this for 5 minutes a day: study
Think five minutes isn’t enough time to make a difference in terms of health and well-being?
It could actually be enough time to stave off a disease that afflicts many people in their later years.
Just five minutes of light exercise a day could help prevent dementia, even for frail older adults, new research has found.
DEMENTIA RISK MAY BE LOWERED BY ONE IMPORTANT MEDICAL DEVICE
The latest study on the topic was led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
They found that engaging in as little as 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week — as compared to none at all — was associated with a 41% lower risk of developing dementia over an average four-year follow-up period.
Even for people at an elevated risk of “adverse health outcomes,” greater activity was associated with lower dementia risks, new research found. (iStock)
The findings were published recently in The Journal of the American Medical Directors Association and shared on several medical sites.
Even for people at an elevated risk of “adverse health outcomes,” greater activity was associated with lower dementia risk, the researchers noted.
BRAIN AND MEMORY ARE BOOSTED BY EATING ONE PARTICULAR DIET, STUDY FINDS
The higher amounts of physical activity, the lower the risk of dementia.
Consider this data from the study: Dementia risks were 60% lower in participants who got 35-to-69.9 minutes of physical activity/week; 63% lower in the 70-to-139.9 minutes/week category; and 69% lower in the 140-and-over minutes/week category.
For every additional 30 minutes of weekly moderate to vigorous physical activity, there was a 4% reduction in dementia risk.
For their analysis, the researchers analyzed a dataset covering nearly 90,000 adults living in the United Kingdom who wore smartwatch-type activity trackers, news agency SWNS reported.
Lead study author Dr. Amal Wanigatunga said, “Our findings suggest that increasing physical activity, even as little as five minutes per day, can reduce dementia risk in older adults.”
“Even frail or nearly frail older adults might be able to reduce their dementia risk through low-dose exercise.” (iStock)
Dementia, usually in the form of Alzheimer’s, affects millions of people all over the globe.
‘Some better than none’
While public health guidelines usually recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, the study aligns with a growing body of evidence supporting a “some-is-better-than-none” approach to physical activity, according to Study Finds.
Participants in the new study had a median age of 63.
And while the risk of Alzheimer’s increases with age, recent research has suggested it may be somewhat preventable by certain lifestyle changes, including better control of cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar — plus being more active, SWNS noted.
Participants in the new study had a median age of 63. Women made up 56% of the sample.
Over an average follow-up period of 4.4 years, 735 people among the group developed dementia.
Exercise is well-known to benefit a person’s physical and mental well-being. New research suggests that just five minutes a day of light, low-dose exercise might help reduce the risk of dementia. (iStock)
Researchers found that for every additional 30 minutes of weekly moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), there was a 4% reduction in dementia risk.
But the most “striking” finding came when comparing people who engaged in no physical activity at all to those who managed to get even minimal amounts.
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“This suggests that even frail or nearly frail older adults might be able to reduce their dementia risk through low-dose exercise,” said Wanigatunga.
He noted that the study was not a clinical trial that established causation indicating that exercise reduces dementia risk, but that its findings are consistent with that hypothesis.
“The association between more activity and lower dementia risk remained robust.”
“To check the possibility that their findings reflected undiagnosed dementia leading to lower physical activity,” News Medical reported, “the researchers repeated their analysis but excluded dementia diagnoses in the first two years of follow-up.”
“The association between more activity and lower dementia risk remained robust.”
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Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News’ senior medical analyst, was not involved in the study but shared his reaction to the “important” findings.
“This is not proof, just an association, but is very useful for the group that gets discouraged, thinking, ‘I can’t do a lot of exercise because of illness or disability, so why do any?’ This study suggests that even small amounts are helpful.”
The beneficial effects could also be tied to healthier lifestyle decisions, a doctor said about the new study’s findings. (iStock)
There are many mechanisms that could explain this effect, Siegel said – “primarily increased blood flow to the brain, as well as improved disposal of metabolic waste and decreased inflammation.”
He added, “It is also likely associated with healthier lifestyle decisions that also decrease the advent of neuroinflammation, dysregulation and plaque formation that characterize dementia, especially Alzheimer’s.”
Some of these include sleep, diet and engagement, he said.
The National Institute on Aging provided funding for the new study.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
NEARLY 90% OF AMERICANS AT RISK OF SILENT DISEASE — HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW
“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
DOCTOR SHARES 3 SIMPLE CHANGES TO STAY HEALTHY AND INDEPENDENT AS YOU AGE
“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
COMMON VISION ISSUE COULD LEAD TO MISSED CANCER WARNING, STUDY FINDS
“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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