Physical Activity

New research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2019 in Los Angeles suggests that healthy lifestyle choices, especially physical activity, may decrease the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. David Llewellyn, researcher of the University of Exeter said that healthy lifestyle appears to be “the only tool to wind back the risk of dementia conferred by a bad deal from the genetic lottery”.

The European Commission's Knowledge Gateway for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and DG Health and Food Safety (SANTE), contains several information on health-related topics. Physical activity and sedentarism has been recently added as a new topic of the Knowledge Gateway. 

The chapter on physical activity contains a broad range of relevant studies and policy documents, going from defining physical activity to policy recommendations and the effects on health. All entries are high quality peer reviewed publications, providing you with reliable figures and information. 

A WHO expert panel has reviewed evidence on the beneficial impact of physical activity on young children and has assessed the effect of inadequate sleep and inactivity.

The experts stress that the early years are especially important because enough active time and quality sleep when you are young can avoid obesity and associated diseases later in life. A vital point, given the unprecedented levels of childhood obesity and physical inactivity throughout Europe.

An important message given by the WHO is that we have to bring back play time. Sedentary time, including screen time, should be limited while maintaining adequate sleep time.

A new study, published by researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine, shows that incremental light intensity physical activity, such as short, regular walks, is associated with higher brain volume. The researchers worked with a sample of 2354 participants of which almost half met the physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.