Bicycle ride reduces the risk of dementia – research

Bicycle ride is associated with a reduced risk of dementia and maintaining the volume of the hippocampus

Photo: Bogdanphoto/Depositphotos

Bicycle ride can be not only beneficial for physical health, but also an effective way to maintain the clarity of the mind in older age.

Elderly people who choose a bicycle as the main means of transportation have a much lower risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

This is evidenced by the results of a large -scale study of Chinese and Australian scientists, Posted in the journal Jama Network Open, writes Medicalxpress.

The team of geriatricians, neurologists and public health experts analyzed the medical data of almost 480,000 people from the United Kingdom, whose average age was 56 years.

For 13 years, scientists have monitored the health of participants, paying attention to the usual ways of moving them (except for work and work).

The results were struck: those who regularly used the bicycle had not only a lower frequency of dementia, but also better maintained the volume of the hippocampus – brain areas responsible for memory and spatial orientation.

The effect was particularly noticeable among people who had no genetic tendency to dementia (lack of Apoe ε4 gene). However, even the carriers of this gene have benefited from cycling.

Researchers suggest that a combination of physical activity and constant spatial orientation while riding a bicycle stimulates the brain and promotes its long -term health. Therefore, a regular bike ride to a store or to the park can be much more important than it seems at first glance.

This discovery once again emphasizes the importance of an active lifestyle and can be an additional argument in favor of the development of bicycle infrastructure in cities, especially in the aging of the population.

Earlier Scientists explored The connection between high blood pressure and the development of dementia.