We probably all know someone who has suffered from dementia; it’s a cruel disease, it robs you of your life before you die. There is a powerful advert from the Alzheimer’s Society in 2024 which portrays it vividly.
The statistics don’t make easy reading. In the UK, dementia has been the most common cause of death in women since 2011 and the second most frequent in men. Women are almost twice as likely as men to get Alzheimer’s.
I have mentioned several times before that whilst as a population we are living longer, the later stage of our lives are not always healthy. Whilst medicine and the NHS can help many conditions, progress with dementia remains limited.
There is a lot of bad news in the world and many voices are not uplifting. I try to offer a more positive outlook. Whilst it seems bleak with dementia, there is a ray of positivity, and it comes from a study in Sweden.
In this study they tracked 191 Swedish women from the age of around 50, and followed them over 44 years. The outcome was astounding. Those participants with the highest level of cardiovascular fitness in midlife were nearly 90% less likely to develop dementia in later life. 90%! And those that did develop dementia did so on average 11 years later, age 90 instead of 79.
Can you imagine if a pharmaceutical company created a drug that had a 90% success rate? How much would you pay for this? You are effectively buying years’ worth of your life. Except it is not a drug and it is something that we can all do and at relatively little cost.
Imagine you had the opportunity to speak to your future self, when you are in your 80’s say, perhaps just starting to show the signs of dementia. Surely your future self would tell you to exercise more.
Whilst this study was just on women, cardiovascular fitness will also help men too.
Exercise is so important to us but knowing what to do and how to start can be confusing. But it is my passion, as it is for many personal trainers, so get in touch, let’s fight dementia.