This Surprising Exercise May Be Better for Your Brain Than Walking, New Study Suggests

Dementia is a condition that disrupts memory, cognitive abilities and the ability to perform daily tasks, and its prevalence continues to rise globally, particularly among older adults.1 The good news? Staying physically active in middle age may be a powerful way to lower the risk of developing dementia. Research consistently highlights the protective benefits of regular movement, though many adults still fall short of meeting recommended activity levels.23

One effective method to boost physical activity is what is referred to as “active travel,” which includes walking or cycling for transportation. In other words, the simple act of skipping the car, bus or train and traveling by foot or bike may have a profound impact on brain health. Active travel not only promotes general health but has also been linked to a decreased risk of conditions like diabetes and, potentially, dementia.4

But participating in active travel won’t be a magic bullet to living a dementia-free life. The interplay between lifestyle habits and genetic predisposition to developing dementia adds another layer of complexity. While active travel presents health advantages for most individuals, the extent of those benefits may differ depending on a person’s genetic risk for dementia.

To explore this relationship further, researchers in the U.K. conducted a study to determine how various modes of travel influence dementia risk, including Alzheimer’s disease, alongside changes in brain structure, and their results were published in JAMA Network Open.4

How Was This Study Conducted?

To conduct this study, researchers used data from the UK Biobank cohort. These participants came from different regions across England, Scotland and Wales. The study gathered extensive information about their demographics, lifestyles, health conditions and more through surveys and exams.

For this research, some participants were excluded, such as those already diagnosed with dementia at the start or shortly after (within two years), those who couldn’t walk, and those missing travel-related data. The study looked at two groups of dementia cases: those who developed dementia before age 65 (younger-onset dementia) and those diagnosed at 65 or older (later-onset dementia). The researchers ultimately evaluated 479,723 participants with over 13 years of follow-up.

To gather information about travel habits, participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included questions about transportation choices that they used. Based on their answers, the researchers grouped travel modes into four categories: nonactive (using cars, motor vehicles or public transport), walking, mixed-walking (a mix of walking and nonactive modes) and cycling and mixed-cycling (cycling combined with other modes).

To identify individuals with dementia, they relied on detailed health records using standardized codes for medical diagnoses.

They also used information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain, heart and abdomen. The research also looked at genetic factors related to dementia, focusing on the APOE gene, which is known to play a key role in dementia risk. Specifically, two genetic markers (called single-nucleotide polymorphisms) were used to determine whether a participant had a higher genetic risk. Participants were then grouped based on whether or not they carried the APOE ε4 gene variant.

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What Did the Study Find?

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