06 April 2024 , 10:00
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Dementia is experienced by almost one million people in the UK, including one in every 11 over the age of 65, according to the NHS - but an expert has now claimed you can help to prevent this debilitating condition by simply walking a little bit more regularly.
It's no secret that many of us obsess over our health apps in the hopes of exceeding the very much idealised 10,000 steps a day. But Claire Steves, a professor of ageing and health at King's College London, explained that a 45-minute walk three times a week is all you need to bolster your cognitive function.
Speaking with the ZOE Podcast, she said: "So, to improve your cognitive health, you need to do more exercise than you're doing now - up to a point - unless you're an Olympic athlete. That's the key thing. If we look at really big population studies, we can see effects, even with minimal levels of exercise and it's fairly linear...So, whatever you're doing, if you go up by a third, you'll be improving yourself."
Dementia refers to a loss of cognitive functioning, making it difficult for sufferers to remember, think and make decisions independently. The condition can have a dramatic impact on a person's everyday life, often leading to heightened emotions and confusion.
Professor Steves explains that exercising regularly can help to build your 'cognitive reserve' - referring to your brain's capacity to think on the spot and deal with tricky situations. With dementia, cognitive reserve levels are severely limited.
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This is influenced by socialisation and even your food choices too, with the Mediterranean diet of greens, seafood, nuts and wholegrains ideal for maintaining your cognitive health. Previous research has even showed that maintaining this diet can slash your dementia risk by 23% across a nine-year period - even if you're genetically predisposed to the condition.
More recently, the University of Oxford also shone a light on the shocking links between dementia, type two diabetes and heart disease, with a high sugar diet causing you to 'age' faster.
"Because the brain is hugely metabolically active, it needs a lot of nutrients," Professor Steves continued. "And we know that a wide variety of plant-based nutrients is really important for brain health."
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