Exercise for mental health

Elderly women who exercise regularly are less prone to suffer mental decline, another indication that physical activity helps stave off some of the frailties of ageing, according to American researchers.

"This finding supports the hypothesis that physical activity prevents cognitive [mental] decline in older women," said study author Kristine Yaffe, a psychiatrist and neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco.

The researchers tracked nearly 6000 mostly white, healthy women aged 65 or older.

The subjects were living in planned communities, such as nursing homes, and their mental faculties and levels of exercise were evaluated over a six-year to eight-year span.

Those in the highest quartile of exercise - the researchers measured exercise by counting the calories expended during such activities as walking, gardening, or more rigorous exercises - were 26 per cent less likely to develop cognitive decline than those in the quartile who were the least active.

For example, for every mile (1.6km) per day the women walked, they lowered their risk of mental decline by 13 per cent, the researchers said. Walking speed was not a factor.

A few previous studies have linked exercise with better mental health, but the latest study made adjustments for confounding variables such as smoking and use of hormone replacement therapy.

Dr Yaffe cited several possible benefits of regular exercise among the elderly, including increasing cerebral blood flow, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in the body and brain, and stimulating nerve cell growth.

The report, which was published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, says that at least one in 10 people older than 65 and half of those over 85 develop some form of cognitive impairment ranging from mild mental deficits to dementia.

"Further research is needed to determine if physical activity programmes could prevent clinically significant cognitive impairment and if our findings can be replicated in other populations."

- REUTERS