Boosting Physical Activity May Lower Dementia, Depression Risk

Written by Corrie Pelc — Fact checked by Jill Seladi-Schulman, Ph.D.

Now, a new study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting in early April 2025 provides further evidence of a link between more exercise with less risk of developing certain neuropsychiatric diseases.

The study’s findings are yet to undergo peer review.

“Neuropsychiatric diseases, such as dementia, depression, and stroke, pose a major global health challenge due to their high prevalence, severe impact on quality of life, and significant economic burden,” Jia-Yi Wu, MD, a researcher from Huashan Hospital Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and co-lead author of the study, told Medical News Today.

“Early prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are crucial. As a safe, cost-effective, and modifiable factor, physical activity holds great promise, especially in aging populations and high-stress environments,” Wu added.

For this study, researchers analyzed medical data from more than 73,000 adults with an average age of 56 from a large database from the United Kingdom.

All participants had continuously worn an accelerometer for 7 days to measure their physical activity, sedentary time — such as sitting — and how much energy they used when exercising.

“Emerging evidence highlights the role of physical activity and sedentary behavior as modifiable factors that may enhance brain health and reduce the incidences of neuropsychiatric diseases,” Wu said. “However, prior studies typically relied on self-reported data.”

“Due to the potential for recall bias, inconsistencies may exhibit when compared to objective measurements of physical activity or sedentary behavior,” she added. “Accelerometers provide objective measurements that classify physical activity based on varying intensities, ensuring the precision of results and maintaining comparability across studies and populations.”

“METs are a simple way to measure how much energy your body uses during different activities,” Wu explained. “In terms of postures and metabolic equivalents, the behaviors were defined as sedentary behavior (at [less than or equal to] 1.5 METs), light intensity physical activity (at [less than] 3 METs), and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (at [more than or equal to] 3 METs).”

At the study’s conclusion, Wu and her team found that study participants who achieved moderate to vigorous physical activity energy expenditure were between 14%–40% less likely to develop dementia, anxiety, depression, stroke, or sleep disorders, compared to those who had lower energy usage.

Additionally, scientists discovered that participants who had an average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity energy expenditure of 1.22 kilojoules per kilogram (kJ/kg) did not develop any of the five diseases.

“This study underscores the pivotal role of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in reducing the risk of five neuropsychiatric disorders,” Wu said.

“The findings reinforce a dose-response relationship between physical activity and health benefits, supporting public health guidelines and highlighting exercise as a cost-effective and accessible preventive strategy, particularly for high-risk populations. The observed 14% to 40% reductions in risks suggest that different neuropsychiatric diseases exhibit varying degrees of exercise sensitivity, providing a foundation for tailored intervention strategies.”

– Jia-Yi Wu, MD

“Unlike genetic predispositions, sedentary behavior is a modifiable risk factor,” Wu explained. “Our finding underscores the urgent need for behavioral and environmental changes to promote more active lifestyles. Both ‘reducing sedentary behavior’ and ‘increasing physical activity’ are equally important. For office workers, the elderly, and individuals with chronic diseases, reducing sedentary behavior is more feasible and safer than engaging in vigorous intensity physical activity.”

“In addition, we explore the potential underlying mechanisms,” she noted. “Sedentary behavior is not only associated with brain diseases, but also with cognitive decline and reduced brain volume, potentially mediated through specific peripheral biomarkers.”

“What’s particularly exciting [about this study] is the use of objective accelerometer data, which provides a more reliable measure of activity levels than self-reports,” said David Merrill, MD, PhD, a board certified geriatric psychiatrist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, and Singleton Endowed Chair in Integrative Brain Health, who was not involved in this study.

“The fact that even moderate levels of physical activity are linked to a lower risk of multiple neuropsychiatric conditions, from dementia to depression, highlights just how powerful movement is for protecting the brain,” he noted.

Gary Small, MD, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, likewise not involved in the research, commented:

“When I was directing the UCLA Longevity Center, our research team found that brain scans of older adults who spend more time exercising show lower levels of amyloid and tau — the abnormal protein deposits that characterize Alzheimer’s disease. We also found that the amount of time a person reports sitting during the day correlates with greater levels of forgetfulness. This recent study confirms these earlier investigations in a large sample using objective measures of physical activity.”

Finally, Vernon Williams, MD, a sports neurologist and founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles, also not involved in this study, told MNT that “it is an important preliminary study because it underscores how lifestyle changes can reduce risk of neurological neuropsychiatric conditions and improve quality of life.”

“We’ve continued to be optimistic about the increasing and evolving evidence of how the brain loves exercise. Movement is critical,” he stressed.

“There is a role for medications and procedures when needed to optimize function and reduce dysfunction, illness, and disability,” Williams continued. “But to the extent we can demonstrate the benefits of lifestyle changes to prevent dysfunction, illness, and disability I think we’re all better off. If regular exercise and increased physical activity can prevent the need for, reduce the need for, or delay the need for medical intervention — that’s a good thing.”