Most of society understands that moving your body is an important component of staying healthy at any age. Weight control, cardiovascular health and other benefits are the main side effects to consistent exercise. Currently, doctors are even discovering that movement also helps patients with possible dementia in their future. Patients who remain sedentary for most of the day are at a high risk for Alzheimer's and other cognitive decline.
Oxygen's Role in the Body
Every cell in your body depends on oxygen for sustained life. As you breathe in deeply, the air molecules move quickly through your lungs and into the bloodstream. Your blood acts as a transport for oxygen, which forces this molecule to every part of your body. As you exercise, more oxygen saturates the blood. Researchers believe that consistent exercise allows this oxygen to permeate the brain, which leads to better cognitive functions into the senior years.
Questions Still Abound
Patients might ask their doctors about the right kind of exercises to perform that ward off dementia. However, researchers have yet to discover the perfect recipe of exercises that truly impact cognitive decline. Currently, the best advice is simply to get active. Taking a walk, playing tennis and other activities that increase your heart rate are smart choices. You simply want to get your blood flowing as you move around on a consistent basis. Make it a habit to exercise at least a little bit each day. Walking around the shopping mall can be a mild exercise that helps.
Hope With HIIT Exercises
Researchers are currently looking at HIIT or high-intensity training exercises as a means to improve cognitive abilities in seniors. This complex term simply means that you need to exercise with variations to the effort. Experienced runners might sprint for 30 seconds and walk for one minute. They can alternate this pattern to surprise the cells into working harder and then resting. Researchers believe that this effort might help with dementia because the controlled stress forces the heart and brain to work harder than before.
Considering Patients With Genetic Predisposition
Dementia is known to move through families because of genetic predispositions. It's not a guarantee that the disease will arise in any one person, however. Those genes must be activated at some point. Patients with a genetic predisposition can fight off dementia with exercise too. The added oxygen into the body might cause that gene to remain inactive as the senior years progress. Patients must still work closely with their doctors so that any signs of cognitive decline are caught early on.
Other Mental Exercises
Physical exercise is critical to a high, quality of life in your senior years. However, you also need mental exercise as well. Take an art or academic class so that your mind is challenged. Take up a hobby that requires problem solving and other mental gymnastics. Playing intellectual games, such as advanced board games, can also help your mental sharpness. Exercising your brain on a variety of levels will only help it remain healthy with a doctor's care to back up any concerns.
Marked attitude changes in seniors are hallmarks of cognitive decline. If you notice that a loved one is struggling with everyday memory, such as locating the car keys, work with a medical professional as soon as possible. There are some therapies that can help patients before dementia sets in. Getting active is simply a basic solution that can ward off mental issues for many of the senior years.