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Exercising everyday won’t protect you from Dementia – but there is a silver lining Credits: Social Media
By Bruno Cooke

Exercising everyday won’t protect you from Dementia – but there is a silver lining

By Bruno Cooke

Here at The Focus, we write a lot about dementia, and with good reason. Its predicted to afflict nearly 140 million people worldwide by the year 2050.

In the absence of any rock-solid cure or even preventative, much of whats written about reducing the risk of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases boils down to dietary recommendations, prescriptions for regular physical activity, and brain training exercises. AI may also be able to help, in the near future. Scientists now have some humbly good news for anyone unable to get out and exercise every�day.

New Year's Resolutions Send Thousands To The Gym
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – JANUARY 2: People run on treadmills at a New York Sports Club January 2, 2003 in Brooklyn, New York. Thousands of people around the country join health clubs in the first week of the new year as part of their New Year’s resolution. Many health clubs see a surge in business of 25 percent immediately after the new year, only to see those numbers level off by spring. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Weekend warriors reduce their chance of dementia just as much as everyday exercisers

A group of international researchers has conducted the first Latin American study into whether or not weekend warrior physical activity patterns are as beneficial as exercising every day regarding dementia risk.

Its already been established that exercising every day is associated with a reduction in mild dementia risks.�

But for those who cant get out and exercise every day, its good news. Lumping all your physical activity together on the weekend increases your bodys defenses against dementia to just the same extent.

Physical activity of all kinds improves brain health. That’s the long and short of it. It may do so by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations and brain plasticity, expanding brain volume and improving executive function and memory, according to the researchers.

Or, in laypersons language, it gives your noggin a boost, whenever you do it.

But isnt it better for your overall health to exercise frequently and regularly?

Well, no, not necessarily. Daily exercisers and weekend warriors get about the same benefits as each other.

As long as youre doing 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week, youre lowering your risk of developing 264 diseases in later life. So, in terms of immune function, it doesn’t matter when you do it, as long as you do it.

Moderate, by the way, means youre working at somewhere between 50% and 70% capacity  your heart is beating at 50%-70% of its maximum rate. If you dont know what your maximum heart rate is, try working out really hard and use a stopwatch to calculate how many beats per minute youre racking up.

Or& use the traditional method of subtracting your age from 220. For example, if youre 50 years old, your maximum heart rate is likely close to 170.

A third method is to multiply your age by 0.7, then subtract the total from 208. For example, Im 30, so I do the following calculation:

30 � 0.7 = 21. 208  21 = 187.

This means that, for me, doing moderate physical activity means doing anything that elevates my heart rate to 50%-70% of 187, which is 93.5-131 beats per minute.

So, now you know the calculation, what’s your maximum heart rate, and how fast does your heart have to beat to qualify for moderate physical activity?