Keep your mind and body active to hold off dementia, study finds

Researchers in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec have completed a study which found that older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who keep their mind and body active can actually improve their cognitive functions.

Someone with MCI has a serious enough loss of cognitive function that they, and those around them, can tell — but they can still perform most day-to-day activities without help.

They're also three times more likely to develop dementia than the general population.

"I think it is critical to understand that there is no cure for dementia but we can delay it and improve cognition," said Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso, a Western University professor and Lawson clinician-scientist who led the study.

The study found that combining aerobic exercise and weight training, along with cognitive training — in this case a memory training app that adapts to individual users — can greatly improve cognitive function in people with MCI.

"What was interesting was that the exercise alone didn't do nearly as much as when you combined it with the cognitive training. That surprised me a little bit," said Dr. Kevin Shoemaker, a Western researcher who oversaw the exercise and training.

Trials from across the country

The multi-city study, called the SYNERGIC trial (Synchronizing Exercises, Remedies in Gait and Cognition) and was published last July in the open access medical journal JAMA Network Open.

It brought together researchers from London's Western University, the University of Waterloo, Kitchener's Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Montreal, and Vancouver's University of British Columbia.

Currently MCI is mostly treated by medication that manages heart conditions, high blood pressure and lowers cholesterol, as it's most likely to progress into dementia in people with those conditions.

"Not all the medications work as effectively as we hope and I think the idea that people can contribute to their own health through behavioural patterns is really important," Dr. Shoemaker said.

Participants who kept up with their training regiment have maintained better physical and cognitive health for the last year, which researchers said is a major improvement for the outlook of MCI patients.

"That means you can delay the decline to dementia for at least a year, which has a great impact on the patient. It keeps patients out of nursing homes for longer and it takes a strain off our healthcare system," Montero-Odasso said.

Home trials have shown promise

The next step of the trial is to take the lessons they learned in the study and then repeat them in a home setting. They learned during COVID that patients who completed the training there had even better results.

In addition to the physical and mental training, 550 new participants are also going to add in special diets, sleep counselling and other lifestyle changes to improve their cardiovascular health.

"That's a really important part of this study as well as how we can translate from the clinic and lab into someone's home in the community based program."

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, 597,000 people live with dementia in the country as of 2020.