Exercise is medicine, for the body and the brain.

Abstract

Dementia is one of the most pressing health care issues of the 21^st century. Exercise is a modifiable lifestyle factor that has been identified as positively impacting cognitive functioning across the lifespan. Despite surmounting evidence linking exercise and cognitive functions in older adults, there is reluctance to adopt exercise as a prevention strategy; this view has been partially fueled by published reviews that have failed to include all the relevant literature. Therefore, in this commentary, we provide an update on the recent converging neuroimaging, behavioural, and biomarker evidence linking exercise with cognitive and brain health. We highlight that endorsing exercise as an effective strategy for improving health and well-being among older adults may potentially have a high impact for mitigating multiple health concerns, and should therefore be considered as a leading treatment strategy for dementia prevention.