Exercise as medical therapy

[Guest guest]

I found this while looking for a study I heard about on the radio the other

day. It was out of Stanford University and involved exercise and it's

effects on some newly found proteins in the brain. Basically it sounded

like they figured out how exercise helps dementia patients. I cannot find

it - yet. But I did find this from Sept 2011:

http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/86/9/876.abstract

Physical Exercise as a Preventive or Disease-Modifying Treatment of Dementia

and Brain Aging

1. J.

<http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/search?author1=J.++Ahlskog & sortspe

c=date & submit=Submit> Ahlskog, PhD, MD,

2.

<http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/search?author1=Neill+R.+Graff-Radford &

sortspec=date & submit=Submit> R. Graff-Radford, MBBCh, FRCP, and

4.

<http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/search?author1=+C.+sen & sort

spec=date & submit=Submit> C. sen, PhD, MD

(from the Abstract) " ... Among patients with dementia or mild cognitive

impairment, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) documented better cognitive

scores after 6 to 12 months of exercise compared with sedentary controls. "

And " Besides a brain neuroprotective effect, physical exercise may also

attenuate cognitive decline via mitigation of cerebrovascular risk,

including the contribution of small vessel disease to dementia. Exercise

should not be overlooked as an important therapeutic strategy. "

The fact that they measured improvement in cognitive function after 6 months

of exercise really rang true to me - this is what I saw happen with my

mother in law. She worked really hard and was able not only to regain her

walking and so on but was able to participate better in daily activities,

follow television shows and hold conversations. It only lasted as long as

she could/would exercise. When we stopped with the 'strong encouragement'

to do so she started to decline rapidly.

-Dorothy