Biking in Mid-Life May Lower the Risk for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Trading car keys in for a bike helmet may lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds.

Researchers say biking on a regular basis may even help increase the size of a brain region that’s important to memory.

They analyzed data from nearly 480,000 people who reported on the types of transportation they used most often. During about 13 years of follow-up, more than 8,800 participants developed dementia and nearly 4,000 developed Alzheimer’s.

But participants who biked or included biking with other forms of travel like walking, driving or public transportation had 19% lower odds of dementia and 22% lower odds of Alzheimer’s, according to the results.

The benefits appeared to extend mostly to people without a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.

The authors say MRI brain scans revealed another interesting trend related to active transportation. “The cycling and mixed-cycling mode was significantly associated with a higher hippocampal volume.”

The hippocampus plays a critical role in memory formation and learning.

The study also suggests driving may be more cognitively beneficial than public transportation.

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