Good sleep and daily exercise reduce dementia risk

He regular physical exercise and sleep between seven and eight hours They can make a difference in long-term brain health. This is according to a study from the University of York (Canada), which relates these habits to a lower risk of developing dementia in adulthood.

Published in the magazine PLOS Onethe work reinforces the idea that lifestyle influences the cognitive impairment. In a context in which around 55 million people in the world live with dementia and the number will continue to grow, caring for memory becomes a social, family and daily challenge.

The researchers reviewed data from 69 studies with long follow-up in healthy adults at the start of the analysis. That is, people without dementia at the time the study began. From there, they observed how three habits were related to the subsequent appearance of the disease: physical activity, sitting time (sedentary lifestyle) and sleep duration.

People with regular physical activity showed, on average, a 25% less risk of dementia compared to the most inactive. There is no need to think about elite sport. We are talking about constant activity such as walking, moving and maintaining a certain body routine. At the other extreme, the sedentary lifestyle prolonged sitting (more than 8 hours per day) was associated with a 27% more risk.

Rest is another key factor. Sleep less than seven hours or more than eight It is not beneficial. According to the analysis, sleeping too little is associated with an 18% higher risk, while sleeping too much increases that risk to 28%, compared to those who sleep between seven and eight hours.

The study does not show that these habits directly cause or prevent dementia. What it shows is that those who maintain better activity and sleep routines tend to have lower risk over time. For this reason, the authors insist that understanding how daily habits influence can help design more effective prevention strategies from middle ages of life.

“Dementia develops over decades and our findings suggest that everyday behaviors such as physical activity, time spent sitting and sleep duration may be related to the risk of suffering from it,” they conclude.