Tonight at Okanagan College, the very popular Speakers Series addressed the “role of exercise & nutrition in brain health”. This was an excellent presentation by Scott Forbes (who, incidentally, got his Ph.D. from my alma mater — but that isn’t why I’m impressed, as impressive as that might be).
He started by pointing out in 1974 there were 4 billion people on the planet, and now there are 7.5 billion. A significant part of this expansion is due to people living longer. At present, the average is 84 years for women and 80 years for men — and before you start doubting this, remember my mother at 100 is helping the average and a dear aunt who recently passed away, did so after her 101st birthday.
Scott has been a lead researcher in the “brain in motion” study where they have discovered that an increase in fitness leads to improvement in cognition. While the hippocamus actually is key, the point being made is that through more attention to fitness, the odds of dementia occurring go down. What is even more compelling is that when good diet is added to the mix, even better results are achieved. The Mediterranean diet actually increases the odds by 30%.
There is one longitudinal study, over 35 years, wherein those who were more active and ate a balanced food menu had the following results:
13% reduction in dementia
12% drop in diabetes
6% less vascular problems
5% longer life.
Without boring you with a tonne of facts here is the summation of his work:
— exercise may be able to slow or delay the onset of cognitive decline (the one caveat — if you have the gene that seems to trigger dementia, then the gains will be less, but still likely better than being idle)
— a complete and healthy diet with fruits and vegetables is best at all round longevity
As to how to approach exercise — while intensity training can be good, it is not for everyone, and should only be pursued with the help of a knowledgeable personal trainer. Rather, consider exercise as medicine and work up to 150 minutes/week (which is about 1.49% of your day). Within this 2.5 hours each week, strengthening exercises should be undertaken at least twice a week. And what are some excellent forms of exercise? Walking, biking, swimming are the three he mentioned often. I’d add that skiing, pickle ball, hiking (which is really only high-powered walking), badminton and dragon-boating would easily get you your twice a week vigorous exercise, and probably bring you close to the 2.5 hours as well.
In other words, it shouldn’t be hard for anyone, senior or otherwise, to meet this regime. Eat properly with lots of fruits and vegetables each week and get off the couch 25 minutes a day or 50 minutes three times a week (or some other mathematical option…just get up and do it!!). One benefit, you keep your kids from getting any inheritance until much later, which should inspire them to want to live longer too!!
g.w.