[Association amongst physical activity, aging and dementia]

Abstract

The human possibility of becoming old - the so called Nestor Effect -, as an evolutionary adaptation, is beneficial only if there is some preservation of a certain cognitive character. Differing neuropathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative diseases, due to an abnormal aggregation of certain proteins, may induce chronic inflammatory processes. As so, physical activity increases aerobic fitness and the brain's blood flow capacity, contributing to the decrease of the central nervous system's chronic inflammation, promoting neuroplasticity, and neural circuitry's reorganisation.