Vascular Dementia: The Importance of Moving in Improving Brain Health

 Pathology:

As mentioned in the previous post, dementia is not all about Alzheimer’s disease and in fact there are different types of dementia. Vascular dementia, or Cerebrovascular dementia to be precise, is the second most cause of dementia in elderly.

The cerebrum is a major part of the brain where it receives and interprets information. Therefore, this means that the vessels that supply cerebrum are extremely crucial. Vascular dementia happens when there is a condition damaging those vessels and causing disturbances in getting oxygenated blood with nutrients to the area. In other words, this type of dementia is caused by brain ischemia (further caused by diseases such as atherosclerosis or thrombosis). So compared to Alzheimer’s disease, it’s the lack of blood supply that results in brain cell death while in Alzheimer’s, brain nerve cells are primarily damaged due to other factors such as amyloid plaque build ups.

Since the problem can be caused anywhere in the vessels, cognitive changes resulting from vascular dementia are more variable than in Alzheimer’s disease. As for clinical features, according to research, subcortical pathology is mostly present in patients with vascular dementia which results in attention, information processing, and executive function deficits. 

 

Research:

Although vascular dementia may not be well known to the public, researching the effect of exercise and movement on this condition has been studied for quite a long period of time. In the 1991-1992 Canadian Study of Health and Aging, 9008 men and women who were 65 years or older were randomly chosen and a correlation was found that regular physical activity could be a protective factor against dementia (like vascular dementia) or other forms of cognitive decline in the elderly (Laurin et al., 2001). Similarly, a few years later, a study was conducted to examine the relationship between leisure activities (reading, playing board games, playing an instrument, dancing, etc.) and the risk of dementia in individuals 75 years of age who did not have dementia at baseline (Verghese et al. 2003). 469 subjects participated in this longitudinal study and of those who participated, 124 had developed dementia (30 of which developed vascular dementia) 5.1 years later (Verghese et al. 2003). This study saw a correlation between participation in leisure activities and a reduction in a person’s risk of dementia (Verghese et al. 2003). However, more modern studies have looked at the effects of a structured exercise program on vascular dementia. In one such study where participants were placed through 60 minutes of exercise (treadmill training and physical training) a day (4-5 times a week for 8 weeks), significant improvements in activities of daily living and balance in elderly with vascular dementia was recorded (Son et al, 2010). While systematic reviews on this topic have found that several studies have shown the effect of physical activity on the brain by reducing the risk for neurodegenerative dementia-causing diseases like vascular dementia and their precursor mild cognitive impairment (Gallaway et al, 2017).

Therefore, physical activity of any kind seems to provide not only mental benefits to people with vascular dementia but also benefits to their daily movements.

Exercise:

            Similar to conclusions based on exercise for Alzheimer’s disease, a wide variety of exercise activity or physical activity in general can hold potential benefits. However, again, the important point to note is to ensure that the physical activity one participates in is conducted consistently over a long period of time so that the benefits of the activity can begin to manifest. Therefore, in order to have this consistent commitment to movement, make sure to work within the boundaries of what you or a loved one is capable of and to make it something that will be enjoyable to complete over and over again.

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**Please note that the exercise related programs from the studies are not the only effective training modality that produce benefits. If you believe that exercise will help you or someone you know, please contact a registered healthcare professional for more information.

**For more detail on this topic or to recommend future content, please email us. 

Articles Referenced:

Gallaway, P. J., Miyake, H., Buchowski, M. S., Shimada, M., Yoshitake, Y., Kim, A. S., & Hongu, N. (2017). Physical activity: a viable way to reduce the risks of mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia in older adults. Brain sciences, 7(2), 22.

Laurin, D., Verreault, R., Lindsay, J., MacPherson, K., & Rockwood, K. (2001). Physical activity and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in elderly persons. Archives of neurology, 58(3), 498-504.

Son, H. H., Oh, J. L., & Park, R. J. (2010). The effect of an exercise program on activities of daily living (ADL), balance and cognition in elderly individuals with alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Journal of Korean Physical Therapy, 22(1), 53-60.

Verghese, J., Lipton, R. B., Katz, M. J., Hall, C. B., Derby, C. A., Kuslansky, G., Ambrose, A. F., Sliwinski, M., & Buschke, H. (2003). Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly. The New England journal of medicine, 348(25), 2508–2516.