Faster walkers stay sharper |
In a study of adults in their 80s, the fastest natural walkers were about half as likely to develop cognitive impairment as their slower peers. This was despite the fast walkers' brains carrying just as much dementia-related damage.
The study drew on three datasets to classify older adults as “super movers” or “everyone else,” then matched walking speed with cognitive tests, MRI brain scans, and, in some cases, postmortem tissue samples. Faster walkers scored better across the board on measures of brain health, and the gap in cognitive decline came in around 50%.
Walking at a steady pace requires, simultaneously, good balance, vision, movement planning, muscle strength, and constant sensory feedback. As those systems decline with age, walking often slows before there are any noticeable memory slips. This is what makes walking pace such a sensitive early signal.
“Surprisingly, they also maintained better cognitive function despite having similar levels of dementia-related brain pathology, suggesting they may possess resilience mechanisms that help preserve brain function,” said study author Joe Verghese, MD, chair of neurology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook.
However, as an observational study, this new research doesn’t prove that walking faster protects the brain. Slower walking may simply reflect neurological changes that are already underway. But as a measure that takes seconds and requires no equipment, assessing walking pace may help clinicians decide who needs a closer look, long before taking a memory test.
To learn more about this research, stroll over to “Older adults who walk faster may cut their risk of cognitive decline by half.”
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