People who walk at least six miles a week provide their brain with critical protection, researchers reported last night.
A new study has found that walking protects brain size – and also helps to preserve memory.
The study conducted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, found that walking six to nine miles seemed to protect the brain – and the more people walked, the better their memory.
Some 300 people took part in the research over a period of 13 years, recording the distances they walked through the city.
This suggested that walking 72 blocks a week – equivalent to six to nine miles – was enough to prevent loss of gray matter in the brain over nine years.
Further tests four years later showed a direct link between walking distance and not developing dementia – with long distance walkers enjoying as much as half the risk of others.
By then as many as 40 per cent of the volunteers had developed loss of brain power or dementia, according to the research reported in the journal Neurology.
Researcher Dr Kirk Erickson said: "If regular exercise in mid-life could improve brain health and improve thinking and memory in later life, it would be one more reason to make regular exercise in people of all ages a public health imperative.
"Brain size shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems. Our results should encourage well-designed trials of physical exercise in older adults as a promising approach for preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease."
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