ATLANTA, Ga. — Engaging in regular physical activity is crucial for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and a recent study from the University of Georgia (UGA) highlights yet another advantage. Staying active could potentially ward off cognitive decline.

Cognitive decline is defined as is the gradual loss of thinking abilities, such as memory, reasoning and problem-solving.

Researchers from the UGA College of Public Health examined extensive data from the national Health and Retirement Study, which included over 13,000 participants aged 50 and above. Their findings revealed that ongoing physical activity can slow down cognitive decline among older adults.

Suhang Song, an assistant professor in the UGA Department of Health Policy and Management, emphasized that this information underscores the significance of remaining physically active consistently throughout one’s life.

“We found that longer and more frequent engagement in physical activity was associated with delayed cognitive decline. These protective benefits grew over the length of the study.”

Physical activities can include running, jogging, gardening, dancing, stretching and even housework like vacuuming and doing laundry. These were all associated with slowing the rate of cognitive decline. Increasing the frequency of these activities was also linked to a measurable slowing over time

Song said, “The improvement of the decline rate may seem modest, but it builds up over time. If this slower decline continues, it could potentially delay the onset of dementia by many years, giving people more time to live independently and maintain quality of life.”

Song also added that consistent physical activity may be a key component of any program aimed at reducing dementia risk in older adults.