A study conducted by Michihiro Okura, a professor of physical education at the University of Tsukuba, and Kenji Tsunoda, an associate professor at the Faculty of Social Welfare at Yamaguchi Prefectural University, found that exercise to prevent dementia is more effective than doing it alone.Professor Okura and others have proposed that in the future, exercise with friends should be recommended in order to promote the prevention of dementia among the elderly.
According to the University of Tsukuba, Professor Okura and his colleagues conducted a follow-up survey of 4,358 elderly people (average age 76.9 years old) in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture over a four-year period starting in 2017, and compared exercise performed alone and with a group of two or more people. In addition to investigating the practice situation, we determined cognitive impairment using the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's criteria, and analyzed the dementia preventive effect of exercise.
その結果、1人の運動は52.4％が実践せず、5.8％が週1回、41.8％が週2回以上行っていた。仲間といっしょの運動は75.2％が実践せず、6.1％が週1回、18.7％が週2回以上行っており、1人で運動する人が多いことが明らかになった。
Cognitive impairment was confirmed in 7.7 subjects, or 337%, during the follow-up period, and exercise at least twice a week significantly suppressed the occurrence of cognitive impairment.In terms of effect size, exercising alone reduced risk by 2%, while exercising with two or more people reduced risk by 1%.While acknowledging the significance of exercising alone, Professor Okura believes that it may be necessary to encourage people to exercise in groups of two or more.
Although it has been known that exercise is effective in preventing dementia, the effects of group exercise have not been sufficiently investigated.
Paper information:[Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics] Impact of exercising alone and exercising with others on the risk of cognitive impairment among older Japanese adults
