News from the World of Medicine

It’s not unusual for some cognitive decline to occur as you age, and it’s nothing to worry about. But if you have more difficulty with judgment, language, or memory than is expected for your age, a doctor may diagnose you with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that raises your risk of progressing to dementia. However, in a Korean study of nearly 250,000 people with MCI, participants who exercised more than once a week were 18 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Physical activity may protect us by increasing blood flow to the brain or by aiding the production of the molecules that help neurons grow.