The Alzheimer's Clock is Ticking—Exercise is Your Only Reset Button

It's never to late to start a exercise program. Regular exercise can significantly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia.

It is my hope that it motivates people to learn that preventive healthy habits could reduce the number of medications we may need to take as we get older. Exercise is considered one of the most effective non-pharmacological and low-risk strategies for prevention. And you can do it for FREE!

• AD prevalence and mortality: It is mind blowing to hear that Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounts for 60-80% of dementia cases, in other terms affects 6.7 million Americans. It’s so sad to hear that deaths from AD increased by over 140% between 2000-2019 while other major diseases declined. Why is this? Are people really becoming more sedentary??

• Prevention potential: As a nutrition and fitness coach, I've taught my clients about the power of being proactive when it comes to our health and life in general. Nearly half of Alzheimer's cases could be prevented or delayed through modifiable lifestyle factors, making early adoption of healthy habits crucial for risk reduction.

• Combined exercise approach: You can’t deny the research that shows that combining both aerobic exercise and resistance training produces greater cognitive benefits than just doing one or the other. A 9-week study found that although the combined aerobic and strength training yielded the best cognitive improvements, (and this next part is important to understand) the benefits regressed to baseline levels within two months of stopping, emphasizing the need for regular, ongoing exercise.

My view. . .

Learning that nearly half of Alzheimer's cases could be prevented or delayed simply by incorporating regular exercise is huge. I encourage you to read the article where I got some of this information. Toward the end of the article, under "The Best Exercises to Prevent Alzheimer's," it provides suggestions on what your exercise should look like.

If you are a beginner with exercising, then after you read that part, DO NOT tell yourself, "Oh, I can't do this." Don't be concerned when you read about doing sprints and high-intensity exercises. Everyone is at a different fitness level. Your sprint effort will look different from someone who is more advanced. For instance: if you are a beginner, your high intensity could look like marching in place ( or marching in a chair) as you pump your arms with your knees slightly going up to where you feel safely challenged. An intermediate or advanced person choose something more aggressive. In case you would like more tips for beginners. CLICK HERE.

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Listen to Wendy Suzuki, a Neuroscientist on how exercise protects your brain from AD.

In this video, Wendy Suzuki shares more information about how the science of working out boosts our mood and memory and protects our brain against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Toward the end of this video she does something really cool. Let me know if you do it with her. I did it and with the laughing and moving it felt amazing!