Exercise vs Alzheimer's

—McClatchy Tribune newspapers
September 19, 2008
After putting 160 elderly volunteers through a battery of exercises, researchers at the University of Kansas School of Medicine say exercising and staying physically fit may slow the relentless, mind-robbing progress of Alzheimer's disease. "This offers hope for all of us," said KU neurologist Jeffrey Burns. "Exercise is cheap. Everybody can do it. If it does impact Alzheimer's disease, we should be treating people with exercise."

Implications
About 5.2 million Americans now live with Alzheimer's. By 2050, that number could swell to 11 million to 16 million. If ways can be found to postpone Alzheimer's by as little as two years, nearly 2 million cases of the disease could be avoided.

Brain shrinkage
Burns and his colleagues have found that brain shrinkage, an inevitable consequence of Alzheimer's, was less pronounced in people who had the disease and were physically fit. By doing scans that.....read the whole article

read a comment