Seniors with Dementia Improve with Exercise
The objectives of this study review were to answer the questions:
- Do exercise programs for older people with dementia improve cognition, activities of daily living (ADLs), challenging behavior, depression, and mortality in older people with dementia?
- Do exercise programs for older people with dementia have an indirect impact on family caregivers’ burden, quality of life, and mortality?
- Do exercise programs for older people with dementia reduce the use of healthcare services (e.g. visits to the emergency department) by participants and their family caregivers?
16 trials with 937 participants were included in the Cochrane review. Randomized controlled trials in which the participants were diagnose with dementia were allocated to exercise programs or placed in a control group. It was found from analysis of these trials that an exercise programs might have a significant impact on improving cognitive functioning as well as the ability to perform activities of daily living, for those with dementia. It was also noted that the burden experienced by informal caregivers providing care in the home may be reduced when they supervise the participation of the family member with dementia in an exercise program but no statistical evidence was found that exercise reduced challenging behaviors. The study was not able to determine the answer to quality of live, mortality and additional healthcare costs, due to lack of data reports from these trials.
As our population ages the number of people suffering with dementia will continue to rise. This will affect the quality of life for those living with dementia as well as those providing care. These caregivers include family caregivers, community care, and residential care service providers.
The evidence found from review of these studies is very favorable that exercise can significantly improve the cognitive functioning of those suffering with dementia.