How to age well? Moderate workouts can save your body and lower dementia risk, say experts

You are never too old to start exercising: science says that even in your mid-sixties – and beyond – exercise will make a big difference to your brain.

A study by a team at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which analysed the exercise habits of almost 90,000 adults with a median age of 63, found that every extra half-hour of exercise over the average weekly 126 minutes was associated with a four per cent reduction in the risk of developing dementia.

The hypothesis, Wanigatunga says, is that MVPA “triggers multiple biological processes that help to slow down cognitive decline or even enhance cognition, both of which play a role in the dementia risk reduction”.