Essay Example: Benefits of Physical Exercise in Prevention of Dementia

Physical exercise is essential in improving mental health and quality of life. Physical exercise includes those activities that may increase the heart rate, causing deeper breathing. Exercise influences the functioning of the brain by protecting memory and improving thinking. Many studies have been conducted over the years to show the importance of physical activities in the prevention of dementia in later life. However, some of these studies on the prevention of dementia report that there is inadequate evidence to links physical activities and dementia. These opposing studies conclude that research showing that physical exercise can help prevent dementia lack objective validation since some of the exercise activities in older persons can be affected by functionality limitations such as chronic conditions. Despite the mixed findings, epidemiological evidence shows that physical exercise is beneficial in the prevention of dementia in later life.

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Physical activity in the early years helps to improve cognition in older adults. According to a study conducted by Sink et al. (2015), physical exercise, as compared to cognitive training in the old age, improves brain performance at a later age. This study indicated that the participants aged 80 years who had engaged in an exercise in the LIFE study had a much better performance on executive functions compared to their counterparts who had engaged in health education for 24 months in their present old age. The benefits of physical activities in early and mid-years are also evident when considering risk factors to dementia, such as stroke and heart disease. People who engage in everyday activities such as walking or dancing reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure which may lead to a heart attack (Cheng, 2016). Regular exercises in the early ages are essential in the maintenance of general wellbeing.

Dementia is a health disorder among the old and adults that is characterized by reduced cognitive capacities such as memory lapse, the personal organization in achieving the daily life goals and duties, and the ability to live a fully contained responsible life. According to Bowen (2012), physical health plays a core role in instituting the workability of the brain, owing to the effective coordination of the aspects that help in sustaining credible nervous functionality. This postulate is built on the fact that physical exercises enable the systemic flow of blood to the brain and other parts of the body (Blondell, Hammersley-Mather, & Veerman, 2014). As a result, a supply of oxygenated blood assures the effectiveness of mental functionality among the humans owing to the capacity to coordinate the sensory, motor, and relay neurons to enable a timely communication between the receptors, effectors, and the central nervous system (Bowen, 2012). Informed physical exercises play an important role in enabling the optimum functioning of the brain to curb some of the characteristic symptoms of dementia, such as memory lapse (Bowen, 2012).

Alzheimer's Disorder (AD) is a common mental and cognitive disorder among children and the old. The manifestation of its symptoms is highly associated with the jeopardized functional coordination between the body, the brain, and core decision-making units that enable humans to live a programmed and well-organized life where goal attainment is key to daily milestones life. Cheng (2016) infers that physical exercises are prolific contributors of a sharp mental capacity that can accommodate the need to pursue a wide range of goals and objectives that could grant meaning to the way lives are led.

Cognitive decline and curbing dementia are some of the key achievements associated with a lifestyle of intense physical exercise. According to Buchman and colleagues (2012), physical exercises are fit for alleviating the risk of cognitive deteriorations owing to the capacity to guarantee actively functional mental and cognitive systems that make the brain competently useful toward goal attainment. Such that, medical practitioners such as physiologists master the tactics and skills that are employable in leveraging physical exercises with the needs and requirements of the people across the entire lifetime (Buchman et al., 2012). Therefore, it is prudent for those who are susceptible to dementia and other cognitive system disorders to consult professional practitioners when it comes to pursuing their various daily life goals such as the capacity to fend for personal and family needs such as budgeting and budgetary control (Sink et al., 2015). Key to note, both physical exercises and pursuance of the various goals that are worth depicting in the day-to-day life to guarantee keener management of lifestyles and other duties rely heavily on the cognitive and mental capacities (Blondell et al., 2014).

Physical fitness is characterized by healthy blood flow and optimal operationalization of the various role-playing activities that engage the cognitive system at an extensive extent. Therefore, physical fitness is indubitably a characteristic of healthy humans regarding the functionalities of the mind such as remembrance and organized completion of duties and responsibilities across the wide range of life anticipations (Brett, Traynor, & Stapley, 2016). Such that, dementia is hard to predict disorder that easily manifests its symptoms in a wide range of susceptible people. Therefore, physical health enables coordinated workability of the brain and the rest of the body. This claim springs from the notion that neuropsychology can be vastly improved among humans despite that dementia is highly related to aging as one of the common causalities due to the deteriorations in the cognitive functionalities and workability of the mental system (Cheng, 2016). For instance, the old are highly likely to develop a slower approach to thinking and problem-solving. Generally, physical exercises play a core role in strengthening the parts of the body that are entitled to enhancing a normalized response of the entire body to stimuli and human needs (Lam et al., 2018).

Indubitably, physical exercises enhance a better preventive approach to dementia compared to health education among the old, children, and adults. Sink and colleagues (2015) infer that physical exercises are core to enhancing the mind's response to many issues faced in life owing to the reflex action impact (Blondell et al., 2014). This notion is built from the assumption that physical fitness is closely related to a sound mind that is capable of achieving the various duties and goals that are associated with its functioning (Sink et al., 2015). Therefore, the presence and working of the mind contribute heavily to the occurrence of dementia symptoms. Accordingly, informed physical exercises could easily pave the way for improved brain workability to coordinate a wide range of influential parts of the body that prolifically contribute to goal attainment and prevention of the progressive symptoms of the syndrome (Sink et al., 2015).

In conclusion, dementia is a common disorder among human societies. The old make the most vulnerable lot of people to the disease. Notably, the brain plays a core role in defining the state of dementia because the mental and cognitive capacities reflect the capacity to manifest or resist dementia symptoms such as memory lapse (Brett et al., 2016). It is undoubtable how informed physical health can help reform and sustain the performance levels of the brain in general to curb dementia disorders such as Alzheimer's disorder (AD), which is quite prevalent among the old and even children (Brett et al., 2016). However, influential physical exercises and tactics are informed and theoretically proven as functional. Thus, it is key to consult professional practitioners such as physiotherapists to make use of physical exercises in curbing dementia maximally.

References

Blondell, S. J., Hammersley-Mather, R., & Veerman, J. L. (2014). Does physical activity prevent cognitive decline and dementia?: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. BMC public health, 14(1), 510. PDF.

Bowen, M. E. (2012). A prospective examination of the relationship between physical activity and dementia risk in later life. American journal of health promotion, 26(6), 333-340. PDF.

Brett, L., Traynor, V., & Stapley, P. (2016). Effects of physical exercise on the health and wellbeing of individuals living with dementia in nursing homes: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 17(2), 104-116. Retrieved from: http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4573&context=smhpapers

Buchman, A. S., Boyle, P. A., Yu, L., Shah, R. C., Wilson, R. S., & Bennett, D. A. (2012). Total daily physical activity and the risk of AD and cognitive decline in older adults. Neurology, 78(17), 1323-1329. PDF.

Cheng, S. T. (2016). Cognitive reserve and the prevention of dementia: the role of physical and cognitive activities. Current psychiatry reports, 18(9), 85. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-016-0721-2

Lam, F. M., Huang, M. Z., Liao, L. R., Chung, R. C., Kwok, T. C., & Pang, M. Y. (2018). Physical exercise improves strength, balance, mobility, and endurance in people with cognitive impairment and dementia: a systematic review. Journal of physiotherapy, 64(1), 4-15. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1836955317301467

Sink, K. M., Espeland, M. A., Castro, C. M., Church, T., Cohen, R., Dodson, J. A., & Lopez, O. L. (2015). Effect of a 24-month physical activity intervention vs. health education on cognitive outcomes in sedentary older adults: the LIFE randomized trial. Jama, 314(8), 781-790. PDF.