Biking might help lower risk of dementia
Want to reduce your risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease?
Get on your bike and ride, a new study recommends.
Biking regularly for transportation appears to lower risk of dementia by 19% and Alzheimer's by 22%, according to results published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
The results also suggest that cycling might even help increase the size of a brain region important for memory, researchers noted.
"Cycling is a moderate- to high-intensity workout, and also requires balance," said Dr. Liron Sinvani, director of geriatric services at Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y., who reviewed the findings. "It requires more complex brain function than walking, which is why maybe it was a better reducer of dementia risk."
"It's not about just doing exercise and making that part of your routine, but thinking about the way you live your life," she added in a news release. "So instead of having to drive somewhere, taking that bike and using active travel modes to get around as part of your lifestyle becomes very important."
For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 480,000 people participating in the UK Biobank, a long-term health study of people living in England, Scotland and Wales.
As part of the study, participants noted the forms of transport they used most often to get about, not including travel to and from work.
During an average follow-up of 13 years, more than 8,800 participants developed dementia and nearly 4,000 developed Alzheimer's.
Results showed a lower risk for dementia and Alzheimer's among those who cycled or included cycling among other forms of travel like walking, driving or using public transportation.
"Our findings suggest that promoting active travel strategies, particularly cycling, may be associated with lower dementia risk among middle-aged and older adults, which carries substantial public health benefits by encouraging accessible, sustainable practices for cognitive health preservation," concluded the research team led by Liangkai Chen, an associate professor at Tongji Medical College at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.
MRI brain scans showed that cycling also was associated with a larger hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory formation and learning, researchers noted.
However, cycling's benefits appeared to extend mostly to people without a genetic risk for Alzheimer's, results showed.
People without the APOE E4 genetic variant had a 26% lower risk of dementia and 25% lower risk of Alzheimer's.
Results were not statistically significant among APOE E4 carriers, but indicated less protection from cycling.
Interestingly, the results also indicate that driving offered some protection against dementia compared to taking the bus or subway.
"Even when using inactive travel like car or public transportation, it seemed like driving had a little bit better impact [on brain health] than public transportation," Sinvani said in the news release.
However, researchers noted that this observational study could not draw a direct cause-and-effect link between cycling and healthy brain aging.
"What I tell my patients and family and friends whenever they ask me what they can do to reduce their risk of dementia, is whatever gets you outside doing stuff is what you should be doing," she said. "I think we see that it's not just the physical activity, but it's also in the balance, and it really engages different parts of your brain."
If you're able to get on a bike, Sinvani said, do that. If you're aren't, use your feet.
"I think if it's, 'should I walk or take a bike?' I would say take a bike, but if it's 'should I walk or just stay home?' I would say definitely walk," she said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on how physical activity boosts brain health.
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