Topic > The positive impact of physical exercise in protecting the brain from Alzheimer's disease

The article published by Time magazine described how physical exercise can protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease. Although the article does not state a specific research question, a reader might assume that they would be wondering whether regular exercise might offer some protection against Alzheimer's disease. The study involved 93 high-risk adults with an average age of 64, all with at least one parent with Alzheimer's disease, at least one genetic variation linked to Alzheimer's disease, or both. However, the participants studied at that time showed no signs of cognitive impairment. To test the relationship between brain activity and exercise levels, participants wore an accelerometer for a week to measure their daily physical activity and received PET scans to measure glucose metabolism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This will reveal the health and activity of neurons, in different regions of the brain that tend to have depressed glucose metabolism for people with Alzheimer's disease. They found that people who spent at least 68 minutes engaging in physical activity at a moderate level had better glucose metabolism than those who spent less time in such activity. The study concluded that sedentary lifestyle or reduced physical activity were not associated with changes in any of the brain regions studied. Links were found between improved glucose metabolism and vigorous activity, but only in the hippocampus but not in other brain regions. Overall, the point the article is trying to make is that a moderate intensity active lifestyle improves neuronal function, light activity is insufficient, and vigorous activity may not be necessary. The scientific article published on the website of the National Library of Medicine of the United States explains in depth how moderate physical activity is associated with brain glucose metabolism in the risk of Alzheimer's disease in adults. For this article too, there was not a research question, but rather an objective. The objective was to further investigate the relationship between accelerometer-measured physical activity and glucose metabolism in asymptomatic middle-aged adults. This study is an expansion of previous studies with the addition of the new invention of the accelerometer. This research included 93 cognitively healthy adults from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention who had a family history of Alzheimer's disease and had at least one or more genes linked to the disease. Participants wore a triaxial accelerometer during waking hours for one week. The accelerometer data collected data on how long each participant was engaged in particular levels of intensity. To process the data, participants underwent 3D FDG-PET imaging. After the study was completed, a positive association between moderate physical activity and glucose metabolism was found in all brain regions studied. Low physical activity was not associated with any of the brain regions, while vigorous physical activity was associated only with the hippocampus. The research concludes that with all the evidence that physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness can promote neuroprotective processes and therefore may be a potential non-pharmacological option for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. Please note: this is just an example. Get a document now..