Time on the Treadmill May Counteract Clinical Symptoms of Alzheimer Disease

Newswise — Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. It interferes with daily life through declines in thought processes, such as learning deficit and memory loss. Although cross-sectional studies have consistently found a link between physical exercise and cognitive performance, a cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established. In this study, the researchers found that running on a treadmill can reverse those cognitive declines that are due to Alzheimer’s disease, regardless of how severe those effects may be. Specifically, the mice in this study that had early or later stages of Alzheimer’s disease showed signs of improved cognitive performance (i.e., short- and long-term memory) after following a prescribed 12-week treadmill running program. There have been thousands of studies on how regular exercise affects cardiovascular health, but this study shows the importance of researching exercise’s impact on brain health as well.

View this study’s abstract or contact the authors.