Staying fit in middle age can slash women's risk of dementia by almost 90 per cent. Fit women are diagnosed with dementia an average of 11 years later than those in worse physical condition. A study following women over 44 years found exercise may protect against the devastating condition. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg put women through a spinning class to determine their fitness, based on when they reached exhaustion. Following them up four decades later, the highly fit women were 88 per cent less likely to get dementia than those of medium fitness. If they did get it, it was at an average age of 90, compared to the age of 79 for the medium fitness group. The fitness test was carried out in 1968, and experts say these women would be of average fitness now, when people exercise more. It is believed keeping fit reduces the odds of having high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which have all been linked to Alzheimer's and similar forms of dementia. Exercising may even be more important than staying thin, as the most fit group often had the same BMI as those of medium fitness. The study's lead author, Dr Helena Hörder, said..
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These findings are exciting because it's possible that improving people's cardiovascular fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia. However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia - it only shows an association.
More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important. For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were exhausted to measure their peak cardiovascular capacity.
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