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As some of you may know, for the past six years I've taught a "Getting and Staying In Sheep Shape" seminar at The Sheep Show, the annual convention of the Wild Sheep Foundation.

Three years ago, Pat asked me to tape a "Sheep Shape" Bowsite Feature along with my seminar partner, Dr. Maurus Sorg. (See the link.)

So I was happy to run across this article earlier this year, particularly as it validated other medical data I'd seen on the subject of Alzheimer's previously.

I believe this very important stuff and I'd like you guys to stay mentally sharp for a long time!

Walk, Jog or Dance: It’s All Good for the Aging Brain

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

April 7, 2016

More people are living longer these days, but the good news comes shadowed by the possible increase in cases of age-related mental decline. By some estimates, the global incidence of dementia will more than triple in the next 35 years.

That grim prospect is what makes a study published in March in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease so encouraging: It turns out that regular walking, cycling, swimming, dancing and even gardening may substantially reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Exercise has long been linked to better mental capacity in older people. Little research, however, has tracked individuals over years, while also including actual brain scans.

So for the new study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and other institutions analyzed data produced by the Cardiovascular Health Study, begun in 1989, which has evaluated almost 6,000 older men and women. The subjects complete medical and cognitive tests, fill out questionnaires about their lives and physical activities and receive M.R.I. scans of their brains.

Looking at 10 years of data from nearly 900 participants who were at least 65 upon entering the study, the researchers first determined who was cognitively impaired, based on their cognitive assessments. Next they estimated the number of calories burned through weekly exercise, based on the participants’ questionnaires.

The scans showed that the top quartile of active individuals proved to have substantially more gray matter, compared with their peers, in those parts of the brain related to memory and higher-­level thinking. More gray matter, which consists mostly of neurons, is generally equated with greater brain health.

At the same time, those whose physical activity increased over a five-year period — though these cases were few — showed notable increases in gray-matter volume in those same parts of their brains. And, perhaps most meaningful, people who had more gray matter correlated with physical activity also had 50 percent less risk five years later of having experienced memory decline or of having developed Alzheimer’s.

“For the purposes of brain health, it looks like it’s a very good idea to stay as physically active as possible,” says Cyrus Raji, a senior radiology resident at U.C.L.A., who led the study. He points out that “physical activity” is an elastic term in this study: It includes walking, jogging and moderate cycling as well as gardening, ballroom dancing and other calorie-burning recreational pursuits. Dr. Raji said he hopes that further research might show whether this caloric expenditure is remodeling the brain, perhaps by reducing inflammation or vascular diseases.

The ideal amount and type of activity for staving off memory loss is unknown, he says, although even the most avid exercisers in this group were generally cycling or dancing only a few times a week. Still, the takeaway is that physical activity might change aging’s arc.

“If we want to live a long time but also keep our memories, our basic selves, intact, keep moving,” Dr. Raji says."

My dad is in the late middle stage of Alzheimer's and I have researched it exhaustively. One thing that resonates to me is that there is a high correlation between insulin resistance and Alzheimer's. In fact, of all the varying risk factors, 100% of Alzheimer's patients are insulin resistant. Many have taken to calling it "Type 3 diabetes."

It makes sense that exercise would help stave off and, to a degree, manage dementia because it is key to modulating blood sugar and insulin in the body.

We simply were not made to be sedentary and that state of being is detrimental.

(all joking aside, thanks for posting it, I believe there is a lot of truth in that from what I've seen in people)

Just can't help yourself, can you?

You can't document even one of those accusations and your response will be to repeat the accusations, and not document any of them.

Who knew? LOL

You'll have to ask someone far more qualified than me that question. Dr. Sorg would know, I'm sure.

I've been fit all my life, but when I was approaching age 30, due to a history of strokes in three of my four grandparents, I made a commitment to always maintain a good level of fitness and to stay trim.

Thirty-eight years later, that's worked very well. I'm absolutely no 'fitness nut.' I eat lots of junk food and drink two-three glasses of wine on a daily basis. I just do what works for me and in the process am probably in the Top 1% in physical health and fitness for men at any age, let alone someone who will turn 68 in three weeks.

Since I moved to Reno in early 2009, I never get sick, I never catch a cold, and I never get physically tired or worn out. I play golf twice a week on a hilly course at 5,500 - 6,000 feet of altitude while walking and carrying my clubs. The two courses at my club are 'housing development' courses, meaning there's about two miles of total distance between the greens and the next tees. That's six-miles total, twice a week.

Today I did a very rocky 6.2 mile trail hike with a 25 pound pack to help prepare for a sheep hunt I have starting Sept. 1. I ran part of the last two miles.

Piece of cake, partially because that's not all that different than walking the course while carrying my clubs.

You get out of life what you put into it. If you're not happy with what you're getting out of life, change what you put into it!

It's impossible to out work a crummy diet.

I'll take any dietician in America out for a twenty-mile backpack trail hike in the high mountains and everyone of them will finish behind me, if they finish at all.

How is the irrelevant?

You rightly noted that what a person did long before they got old made a difference as to whether or not they were pre-disposed to get Alzheimer's.

If that pre-disposition goes back to before a person was thirty years old, then I stand corrected. But that's not what I heard you say.

I've owned and been around horses my whole life. I can tell you that the above statement is common knowledge with horse people. The WORST thing you can do to an old horse is to put him off by himself somewhere with no activity or stimulation with other horses. They are usually dead in a short amount of time. People are no different.

What horses have going for them is when they can't perform basic living functions anymore we kindly put a needle in their neck. For humans we plug tubes in them and watch them rot away.

Terry

Glad you started this thread. Folks think dementia is inevitable or beyond control. I can't speak all causes but that's not the case with Alzheimer's.

Help me out here, because I'm no expert.

But I do believe that my daily exercise blows out all the sodium, sugar and fat my bad diet takes in.

My cholesterol levels are a bit above normal, but only because my 'good' cholesterol numbers are way above average. In fact, I've had blood tests that show my HDLs to be higher than my LDLs, which is extraordinary.

My resting pulse is in the low fifties and my BP runs 118-120 over 76-78. My triglycerides (fat in the blood) are so low the doctors frequently question the test results.

I had a physical a couple of years ago and my doctor said I had the heart and lungs of a twenty-year-old, although I was 65 at the time.

So please tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Kyle

Have you checked your postprandial glucose level? It's not sufficient to merely do a fasted test in the morning. Have you had a CAT scan? Has your blood been tested for inflammation markers? Any chronic problems?

Lots of healthy, active people keel over for seemingly no reason. Only nothing happens without a reason.

I work in the construction industry around hundreds of people who are on their feet all day and more than I can count have Type-2 diabetes. They burn more calories in a day of woking than a white collar dedicated runner. Of course, they eat Hardees for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch... So health is not merely a thermogenic equation. Weight management is not even merely a thermogenic endeavor.

"So please tell me what I'm doing wrong." - It seems you're treating nutrition as a monolithically caloric proposition.

I'm no expert either but I have done a ton of research trying to get a handle on Dad's disease. The nutritional composition of one's diet matters more than caloric intake.

Yes, it is a lot more than forgetting. While healthy living is a good idea, it will not prevent everything.

"I'd rather forget than dance any day.."

Imagine forgetting how to swallow food or water. That's what generally finalizes things.

When she was diagnosed, I don't know if it was the disease or depression at having been diagnosed. She went through it with her mom and her brother, she knew what was coming. But her physical activity really slowed... even though she could still walk she wanted a wheelchair. She got belligerent when asked to walk or pretty much do anything. Physically she went downhill very fast.

A few years ago after she went into assisted living my dad used to visit her every day. Most days she didn't know who he was, but some days she seemed to see through the fog. Funny thing, my dad got a call that her brother had passed away that morning. When he went to visit her, first thing she asked about her brother, if he had seen him. She said she talked to him and said it was his birthday today or something. She hadn't even mentioned him for many years. Strange stuff for sure. My dad was a pretty strong guy but he said he just broke down when he heard all that. He said he never did tell her he passed away.

So it's thick in my family, my mom's side. I'm 60 and in good shape, eat right etc. probably drink too much beer and have a cigar once a week or so, but active and healthy. Haven't had so much as a cold for years. Hope to be packin' an elk out this year soon. But now and then..... when I have a "senior moment" and forget what I did with my keys or what it was I came into the room for..... I have to wonder "is this how it starts?".

Yup!

if not we're gonna feel pretty stupid laying there dying of nothing.....

- Genetic predisposition does not guarantee genetic expression. Eliminating risk factors are key, imo. I'm a big proponent of vigor unto death. If my lifestyle can support healthy activity until the "big event," that will be a happy end.

Amen to that...

"No offense meant above"...

None taken, I knew what you were driving at.

To HA's point though, I believe our days are known.

People are also demanding earlier retirement, welfare, cheaper soda, easier access to abortion, and no-fault divorce. What people demand has nothing to do with what is good for them.

The Bible teaches that all food is OK, but gluttony and sloth are not. Alcohol is OK, but drunkenness is not. A little wine is good, strong wine (distilled spirits?) is not.

As Owl pointed out, God numbers our days but we are told to take care of our body because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Untreated or poorly treated chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. are the root cause of what kills most people.

If you stay in shape and eat right you stand a good chance of not getting treated for any of the above.

-I happen to agree in general with Spike in terms of food quality. However, under current auspices, we couldn't feed the world without the exponentially modified and chemically treated sources. Just the way it is.

On the subject of retirement, I am coming to see that as another potential cultural fallacy. I have seen so many men in my trade retire, park their carcass, and spiral straight down to the grave, I have to wonder if that is a healthy lifestyle choice.

I know only 3 men in my circle that have truly retired well in a fashion I would consider healthy. No kidding. The others either went back to work or, at best, set about varying degrees of accelerated rot.

No question you know far more about dementia and Alzheimer's than I do, but there seems to be a significant conflict between the study I noted at the top and your position.

The study cleary says people who exercise frequently, and esp. those who do so at a high level, are far less likely to get Alzheimer's than those who don't. Yet your posts, if I'm reading them right, say exercise really makes no difference - it's diet and genetics that really matter.

We brought my Mother up here to Ketchikan, a few years ago, after my Father passed. Mom was well along in developing Alzheimer's. My father covered it well and none of us quite knew how far along Mom was.

Just about everyone of her 9 siblings showed signs of Alzheimer's as well as her Mother. Most were before the days of diagnosis. My Mother was tested for several years and actually was diagnosed, by the Dr's at Travis Air Force Base Hosp.

At that time the English were way ahead of Alzheimer's research because they recognized it and had dealt with it for many years. Seems English are more prone.

I studied hard like Owl has done about the terrible disease. I'm sure there is a little more known now than just a few years ago. But really not much. Many many opinions. Even one new study has shown that Marijuana slows or even stops the progression.

One statement from an Alzheimer's Doc has always stayed with me ... He said "when you meet one Alzheimer's patient you've met one Alzheimer's patient".

But you're wrong about the role nutrition. To paraphrase one of my sources, "Food is more than fuel. It's also information." For instance, the composition of one's diet is a primary control for hormonal regulation (output) and the myriad of systemically pervasive effects those hormones have on the body.

Take some time and research insulin resistance and dementia, metabolic derangement and diet effects on inflammation. If you are not interested in extensive reading, a couple hours on youtube will sum it nicely.

12 minutes of nutritional perspective relative to health and dementia. I have not read this fellow's books but he does a good job of summarizing in layman's terms why nutrition is much more than a caloric proposition.

He references Nora Gedgaudas, a lady with a shelf load of degrees. I've read plenty from her. She is a hunter's best friend - basically pushing the absolute necessity of ancestral eating patterns that only folks like us can achieve. Good stuff. Nora was the first I read that stated there are NO essential carbohydrates required to maintain human life. I never knew that.

:-)