Https:'Surprising' study suggests exercise may make dementia worse
Seemingly well done and large study.
Just looking at the study design and results, what I see is that the study found....
(wait for it)
....no clinically significant difference at four months.
<YAWN>
Interesting when you dig into the data: the men scored the same in the exercise group and the untrained group on the ADAS. All of the difference appears to come from the women.
See Table 4 in the study.
When you read an article about a medical study, it is amazing how often the headline doesn’t match or even contradicts the study. I think this is because the articles are written by people who don’t really know how to read a study, and headlines are written by someone else who doesn’t really know how to read an article.
In terms of this study, there are reams of evidence that healthy lifestyle interventions (diet and exercise) can delay the onset of dementia. But once the dementia is already manifest, at least in Alzheimer’s, the pathological changes in the brain have been well underway for some time. So it is probably too late for diet, exercise, or statins to have major effects on the dementia itself.
What is more important is the effects on quality of life: falls, level of independence, etc. This study did not show any benefit in those areas either, but in fairness it was not designed primarily to effect or detect those outcomes.
So even if ecercise doesn’t help your memory once you have dementia, you have to ask yourself, “Would you rather be frail and demented or strong and demented?”
The BBC version seems to adhere more closely to the findings:
Dementia exercise programmes 'don't slow brain decline' - BBC News
Also, it gives some details as to the exercise regime:
"In the study, 329 dementia patients took part in gym sessions lasting 60-90 minutes twice a week for four months. They spent at least 20 minutes on a fixed cycle and lifted weights while getting out of a chair."
So, no squats were performed during this study :-)
I think the important take has been already highlighted by jfsully above: exercise helps preventing the onset of conditions like dementia. But starting to exercise once the first signs appear is too late, although a researchers pointed out that:
"For many people, exercise can be a source of enjoyment and provide valuable opportunities for social interaction...These considerations can apply to people living with dementia just as much as they do to anyone else."
I think it's an important point.
IPB
Of course, since SS is training led by coaches and not exercise this article whatever its conclusions is basically irrelavent.
I thought of a pithy response but now I can't remember it.
Probably at least 3. (On a 70-point scale). I think this paper set 2.45 as their threshold for meaningful change, good or bad, which was not met. So the average of a 1 or 2-pt drop in the exercise group was not thought to be meaningful. It is disappointing that they didn’t see any degree of improvement, but there may be issues with the study design that could be addressed in future studies.
But by no stretch should anyone read this study and conclude that “exercise makes dementia worse.”