Key points from article :
Senior women were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia if they did more daily walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
Among women aged 65 or older, each additional 31 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
The risk was also 33 percent lower with each additional 1,865 daily steps.
“The early intervention for delaying or preventing cognitive decline and dementia among older adults is essential,” said senior author Andrea LaCroix.
"Much of the published ... based on self-reported measures", said first author Steve Nguyen.
They sampled data from 1,277 women as part of two Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) ancillary studies.
The study was carried out at the University of California San Diego and was published in the online edition of Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
