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Isn’t it ironic? You’re in your car waiting to pull through the drive through window at your local Walgreens and what are you there to get? Weight loss medicine? Pills for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Yes, there are some percentage of people who have an injury or are handicapped and walking into the pharmacy to pick up their medication is difficult. However, a large percentage of people who are waiting in the drive through line are just being lazy.
As the owner of a home care agency who deals (primarily) with the elderly, I have a front row seat to see what is happening to our minds and bodies as we age. And I keep up with the research. I wonder how many of these same people would still be going through the drive thru’s if they knew what I know and could see what I see on a daily basis.
There is not much of a debate any longer. Staying active and exercising is the best and most protective medicine that we can give our brains as we get older. Recently, there have been a few studies where the subjects have shown improvement in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) when they exercised on a regular basis. What is so important about this is that of those that have MCI, about 15% are expected to develop Alzheimer’s. So when research shows that older adults who remain active experience almost a 40% reduction in getting MCI, it’s important to take note. What this research teaches us is the importance of focusing on prevention when it comes to neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and to fight them sooner rather than later.
When someone is exposed to long term physical and mental stress, they suffer from something called oxidative stress. And suffering from oxidative stress makes the brain more susceptible to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, other forms of dementia and Parkinson’s.
Getting regular aerobic exercise at least 5 days per week can actually shield the brain from this stress. Strength training is important too. Recently researchers assessed the strength of about 1000 dementia free people aged 54 to 100. They followed the group for 4 years noting the strength of nine major muscle groups. Those who ranked in the top ten percent for strength had a whopping 61% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s than the lowest 10%!
Do you need more convincing about the importance of exercise? Well, in a 2008 study published in the journal Neurology, researchers measured the midsections of 6,500 adults in middle age during the 1960s and 1970s and then followed up with them 36 years later. The people who had the largest midsections in their 40s were three times more likely to have developed dementia when compared to those with the least amount of fat around the middle.
In the aging of a normal brain, brain function will decline due to blockages of bloody supply, the loss of neuronal connections and a decline in nerve-signaling chemicals. It had been believed that an aging brain was incapable of generating new brain cells. But that is not actually the case as shown by studies conducted by Fred Gage, PhD and colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Theses studies show that with more physical exercise, you can actually grow your brain cells more, have your brain cells live longer and that your brain cells can better connect with other cells. If you were to walk briskly for 40 minutes four time each week, you would increase the flow of blood to the regions of your brain that can grow new brain cells. Dr. Gage has concluded that much of the brain’s decline that we believe is inevitable because of the aging process is really a result of not getting enough exercise.
Hopefully this will give you reason to pause the next time you start to pull into the Walgreen’s drive thru. Next time I challenge you to park at the far end of the lot and walk in to get your medicine. Who knows, if you keep up that mindset, one day you may not even need that prescription!
Theanna Zika founded Saint Louis senior in-home care company, Heavenly Helpers, in 2004. She shares tips, strategies and advice about caring for seniors that she has learned over the years on the blog at her company’s website. The site also features a helpful list of Saint Louis senior resources for seniors and their families in the Saint Louis Metro area.
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