You have another excellent reason to get out and exercise. This time you are holding Alzheimer’s at bay. Research studies with seniors have looked at the impact of exercise on brain function or on its effects on slowing the progress of dementia. A recent study at the Cleveland Clinic looked at the actual physiology of the brain and found that the brains of people who exercise do not atrophy even if they are at high risk for Alzheimer’s.
As many as 1 in 4 of us can carry a specific gene – ApoE4 – that triples the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Those are pretty bad odds, but the Cleveland Clinic followed people with this gene and found that those who exercised regularly showed no shrinkage of their hippocampus. In other words, even though they are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease their brains looked just like the brains of people at much lower risk for the disease.
This link to an article about the study gives you more specifics about the extent of exercising you need to do to keep that gene under control.