Physical activity may not reduce AD chance?

[MiniJunkie]

I didn't join this group to be a bearer of bad news by any means, but I did come across this study today which - if I'm reading it correctly - is a bit discouraging...

https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontol ... 54/5763509

[Tincup]

Without reading the 3 underlying studies, this stands out, "PA was assessed with self-reported questionnaires." Questionnaires for diet and exercise are notoriously unreliable, especially assuming the answers can be extended over long periods of time. I'd pay a lot more attention if they actually assessed fitness quite a few times over the time course of the studies.

[Fc1345linville]

Minijunkie, I am a 78 yr old male whose Mom also died of Alzheimer's, at 91, and I am a 4/4 as well. 52 years ago I started daily recreational running/jogging and quit smoking and lost 25 pounds to get a BMI of 23. I still get an hour of exercise almost daily, and I have kept the weight off, retaining the BMI of 23. Over the years I have become almost addicted to the daily exercise. At this point I am symptom-free of dementia, so I do not plan to slack off of my exercise routine, which by the way, also apparently helps ward off CVD and strokes. And finally, my hips, knees and shoulders have never bothered me, and I think the regular use of all of them has made a difference. Maybe I'm just lucky

[MiniJunkie]

Minijunkie, I am a 78 yr old male whose Mom also died of Alzheimer's, at 91, and I am a 4/4 as well. 52 years ago I started daily recreational running/jogging and quit smoking and lost 25 pounds to get a BMI of 23. I still get an hour of exercise almost daily, and I have kept the weight off, retaining the BMI of 23. Over the years I have become almost addicted to the daily exercise. At this point I am symptom-free of dementia, so I do not plan to slack off of my exercise routine, which by the way, also apparently helps ward off CVD and strokes. And finally, my hips, knees and shoulders have never bothered me, and I think the regular use of all of them has made a difference. Maybe I'm just lucky

That’s awesome and encouraging

Meanwhile I tried a 30 min walk yesterday and ended up with some weird foot pain so I’m limping. I have a long road ahead to get more active!

[TheresaB]

Meanwhile I tried a 30 min walk yesterday and ended up with some weird foot pain so I’m limping. I have a long road ahead to get more active!

It's always daunting to read articles about how critical exercise is for brain health when a person has physical limitations. So when a paper like the one you found says that exercise is hooey when it comes to brain health, that's very enticing, but that's one paper vs many, many papers that cite benefits of exercise. Have you read our wiki on exercise? https://wiki.apoe4.info/wiki/Exercise_- ... d_Benefits It cites a LONG list of reasons why exercise is good for us as ApoEε4 carriers.

I wish exercise wasn't so critical for us, because I live with chronic pain from poor orthopedic surgery on my foot many years ago. I had two corrective surgeries, but the pain prevails. What is reassuring are the articles that stress that the exercise doesn't have to necessarily be strenuous, what's important is to get off the couch and do things.

Our genes live in the past, they're most comfortable with what they experienced for many, many, many generations. Did our ancestors run 10ks? No. But they moved A LOT. So while I used to be physically active and wish I could go back to that lifestyle, I'm reconciled to the fact I never will, but I take solace in that just moving benefits my body. I wear good shoes and can go for a walk, garden, housework (bleh), that sort of thing. Once a week I connect on line (COVID) with my Pilates instructor who works under the supervision of the physical therapist that saw for months, this has helped reawaken muscles I need to be using that I wasn't/still aren't as a result of compensatory standing/walking habits that I developed in trying to avoid the pain in my foot. Pilates can be challenging, but typically isn't too difficult, a good instructor will never have you do something you shouldn't be doing, same with yoga. The beauty of HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, is that you can gain great benefit from a short duration workout. Tai chi, Qigong are movement oriented, but not strenuous., I feel it's good to do something that gets yourself in touch with your body.

I've read a lot of articles on exercise and it's importance for brain health and from all those articles I can honestly say that no one knows which exercise is best, how strenuous it should be, how long, etc. We do know that too much can be too stressful for the body. But I can say with certainly resistance training is important to include for us ApoE4s. If I had to chose between resistance training or an aerobic exercise I think resistance is the more important between the two.

[circular]

I've read a lot of articles on exercise and it's importance for brain health and from all those articles I can honestly say that no one knows which exercise is best, how strenuous it should be, how long, etc. We do know that too much can be too stressful for the body. But I can say with certainly resistance training is important to include for us ApoE4s. If I had to chose between resistance training or an aerobic exercise I think resistance is the more important between the two.

Thanks for this mini summary and the context before it. I am also challenged with physical limitations. I reinforce exercise with meditation which comes to me naturally and in very deep states. It's not a substitute for exercise, and I haven't had the time I've wanted for years to do a really good literature dive, but I suspect that meditation might confer some of the same benefits as exercise, so I pair what I can do physically with daily meditation and hope for some cumulative and synergistic effects.

[Svetlana]

In the discussion part of this paper they state that "Overall, we found no association between PA and cognitive decline; however, the results were heterogeneous between the participating cohorts. PA was strongly associated with lower odds of cognitive decline in InCHIANTI while in LASA and RS this association was not statistically significant. The differences may be attributed to different questionnaires used per study or to specific population characteristics (ie, older age, lower educational level), suggesting that study characteristics should be taken into account when comparing results across studies."

[circular]

The differences may be attributed to different questionnaires used per study or to specific population characteristics (ie, older age, lower educational level), suggesting that study characteristics should be taken into account when comparing results across studies."

This is such an important reminder. Good "research hygiene" (haha just made that up) prioritizes reviews and meta-analyses. So many of these raise this very point. While individual studies lack the comprehensive synthesis of reviews and meta-analyses, reviews and meta-analyses also have their own limitations. Sometimes methinks science isn't always what it's cracked up to be, which isn't to say it's strengths aren't important considerations.

But I digress ...