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Study: Cycling linked to lower risk of dementia

2025-06-12 17:59:00, Shëndeti CNA

Ride a bike, a new study recommends.

Regular cycling for transportation appears to reduce the risk of dementia by 19% and Alzheimer's disease by 22%, according to results published June 9 in JAMA Network Open.

The results also suggest that cycling may help increase the size of a part of the brain that is important for memory, the researchers noted.

“Cycling is a moderate-to-high intensity exercise and also requires balance,” said Dr. Liron Sinvani, director of geriatric services at Northwell Health in Manhasset, NY, who reviewed the findings.

"It requires more complex brain function than walking, so it was probably a better reducer of dementia risk."

"It's not just about doing exercises and making them part of your routine, but about thinking about how you live your life," he added in a press release.

“So instead of going somewhere by car, getting on a bike and using active modes of travel to get around becomes very important as part of your lifestyle.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 480,000 people who participated in the UK Biobank, a long-term health study of people living in England, Scotland, and Wales.

As part of the study, participants noted the forms of transportation they used most frequently to get around, not including commuting to and from work.

During an average follow-up of 13 years, more than 8,800 participants developed dementia and nearly 4,000 developed Alzheimer's disease.

The results showed a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in those who used bicycles or included cycling among other forms of travel such as walking, driving or using public transport.

"Our findings suggest that promoting active travel strategies, particularly cycling, may be associated with lower risk of dementia in middle-aged and older adults, which brings significant public health benefits by encouraging accessible and sustainable practices for maintaining cognitive health," concluded the research team led by Liangkai Chen, an associate professor at Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.

Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans showed that cycling was also linked to a larger hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory formation and learning, the researchers noted.

However, the results showed that the benefits of cycling appear to extend mainly to people without a genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.

People without the APOE E4 genetic variant had a 26% lower risk of dementia and a 25% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The results were not statistically significant among APOE E4 carriers, but showed less protection from the cycle.

Interestingly, the results also show that driving offered some protection against dementia compared to using the bus or subway.

"Even when using inactive travel modes like driving or public transportation, it seemed like driving had a slightly better impact [on brain health] than public transportation," Sinvani said in the press release.

However, the researchers noted that this observational study could not draw a direct cause-and-effect relationship between cycling and healthy brain aging.

"What I tell my patients, family and friends whenever they ask me what they can do to reduce their risk of dementia is that anything that gets you outside doing things is what you should be doing," she said. "I think we see that it's not just physical activity, but it's also about balance, and it really engages different parts of your brain."

If you're able to ride a bike, Sinvani said, do it. If you're not, use your legs./ CNA