Healthy Aging Health Center
This article is from the WebMD News Archive
Fitness May Help Minds Stay Sharp
Oct. 10, 2006 -- Chalk another point up for physical fitness: It may help the mind age better.
Scientists in Scotland report that news in Neurology.
The University of Edinburgh's Ian Deary, PhD, and colleagues studied 460 Scottish elders who were 79 years old and didn't have dementia.
Decades earlier, when the elders were 11 years old, they had taken a mental skills test that mainly covered verbal reasoning, with some questions that gauged numerical and spatial skills.
They repeated the same mental skills test at age 79.
The elders also took three fitness tests:
- Timed walk of nearly 20 feet
- Grip strength in their dominant hand (best of three trials)
- Lung function (amount of air forcibly exhaled in one second)
Fit Bodies, Sharp Minds
Elders with the highest fitness scores were the most likely to have scored similarly on the mental skills test at ages 11 and 79.
The results held after adjusting for other factors such as smoking, education, social class, and a form of the ApoE gene that's been linked to greater odds of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Participants only took the fitness test when they were 79 years old. So it's not clear if they had been physically fit throughout their lives.
The study doesn't show whether the elders worked out or stayed active without a formal exercise program.
Future studies should test whether fitness helps the brain age well, the researchers note. Meanwhile, there's no reason not to be active -- at any age -- with your doctor's permission.
Active at Any Age
The CDC recommends that all adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on five or more days per week.
Get your doctor's approval if you're new to exercise.
Aerobic endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility are all important for older adults, states the CDC's web site.
The CDC offers these ideas:
- Aerobic activities. Walking, swimming, dancing, skating, hiking, rolling a wheelchair
- Strength. Lifting weights or cans, carrying laundry or groceries, gardening, doing strength exercises while sitting in a chair
- Flexibility. Stretching, yoga, tai chi
Healthy Aging Guide
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRIPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
