A new study on women between the ages of 70 and 80 suggests that physical exercise can reduce one of the risk factors for dementia. The study involved 86 women and focused on the size of each participant’s hippocampus (the part of the brain associated with memory). A decrease in the size of the hippocampus is associated with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. At the end of the six-month study, the women who engaged in active exercise had larger hippocampuses than those who did not.
The study, which appeared in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (a subscription may be required), was just a start, and more research is needed according to the study's authors.
