Exercise and Alzheimer's Disease: Will it help?

Alzheimer's Disease has been in the news quite a bit lately, and with Julian Moore winning the Oscar for Best Actress in Still Alice, more attention has been paid to a disease that rightly deserves more attention.

The reason for this blog post, my wife's paternal grandmother, Deloris, we all know her as 'Mania,' is currently suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  In addition, my step-grandmother, Ellie, whom my brother and I always knew only as 'grandma,' because our paternal grandmother died before either of us were born, also suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.  I've seen and am seeing what this disease can do first hand to someone you love.

I present some research findings. I am not a physician/doctor, and what I write is not intended to help, prevent, or cure any disease.   What I write here is merely a summary of the research findings from articles published in scholarly journals.

I decided to do a little digging and find out if there is any research evidence to support exercise helping, or delaying onset, or potentially preventing Alzheimer's.  A recently published study by Loprinzi (2015), found that there are beneficial effects from exercise in not only helping to prevent Alzheimer's Disease, but also to prolong the survival rate for those with Alzheimer's Disease.  In addition, Schloesser et al. (2015) found that higher levels of physical activity are associated with a decreased risk of future diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's Disease.  Remember, association is not causation, a common theme that I have to remind my students.  Also, Hernández et al. (2014) conducted a meta-analysis of exercise and Alzheimer's Disease research over the past 10 years, and found that exercise can be beneficial for Alzheimer's Disease.  They found that exercise may be beneficial for improving cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

In addition, I present this video:




This is Carl W. Cotman, Ph.D., and he explains how a diet rich in antioxidants and regular exercise may benefit the brain.

This is just a sample of the research ongoing on Alzheimer's Disease.  For more on Alzheimer's Disease I cnourage you to visit the Alzheimer's Association webpage.