The potential for exercise and physical exercise to reduce the risk of dementia and frailty

Abstract

Globally geriatric syndrome, such as dementia, frailty and falls are a major public health problem and are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. Physical and mental frailty and fall related injuries among older adults are associated with substantial economic costs. Developing an effective system and implementing effective intervention strategies could appreciably decrease the incidence and healthcare costs of these injuries. A feasible strategy for preventing geriatric risks at the community level are generally included in comprehensive geriatric assessments, and the improvement of risk factors of disabilities, such as cognitive status, muscular-skeletal impairments, pain, weight loss, incontinence , effects of medication use, and mobility impairment. In addition, comprehensive approach may include lifestyle factors such as physical activity, sedentary behavior, and social activity modification. This presentation highlights our recent work evaluating the relationship between physical activity and physical and cognitive health implications in older population. Our research team also performed a randomized trial to test long-term supervised multi-component intervention for improving cognitive function among older adults with MCI and frailty. The primary research aims are to determine what type of activity is most effective in promoting health, important factors determining whether people who continue the necessary physical activity delay aging. We found physical activity was associated with multiple aspects of cognitive function, suggesting that the quality of the habitual physical activity may be important factors for cognitive benefits. We also found that inactive older adults showed negative efficacy in the medial and inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and parietal gyrus regions compared to high active group. Our findings suggested that PA and higher aerobic fitness levels are associated with better brain and cognitive health for older adults. The multi-component program includes aerobic exercise, muscle strength training, and postural balance retraining, which are conducted under multitask conditions to stimulate cognitive and physical functions. We reported that the cognitive stimulations during exercise improve or maintain cognitive performances, at least partly, in the older adults with amnestic MCI. This presentation will also discuss our research related to the health implications associated with the pattern of physical activity. We have been conducting a longitudinal interdisciplinary study on physical activity and health benefits.