• Posted February 28, 2025

Physical Activity Linked to Better Mental, Brain Health

Moving your body helps your brain, a new study suggests.

Folks who regularly exercise have better mental and brain health, researchers will report in early April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego and online.

Moderate to vigorous physical activity reduces risk of dementia, stroke, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, researchers found.

“This research highlights the role of physical activity and sedentary behavior as modifiable factors that may enhance brain health and reduce the incidence of these diseases,” lead researcher Dr. Jia-Yi Wu of Fudan University in Shanghai, said in a news release. “It is promising to think that encouraging people to make these lifestyle changes could potentially lessen the burden of these diseases in the future.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 73,000 U.K. residents with an average age of 56 who wore motion-tracking devices for seven days. 

The devices monitored their physical activity, the energy they spent on those activities and the time they spent sitting each day.

The team used that data to quantify each person’s physical activity as metabolic equivalents, or METs.

Moderate physical activity like walking or cleaning amounts to around three METs, researchers said, while more intense exercise like cycling can burn around six METs depending on speed.

People who engaged in moderate to vigorous activity were 14% to 40% less likely to develop the mental health and brain conditions being tracked, results show.

On the other hand, more time spent sitting increased people’s risk of these conditions by 5% to 54%, results show.

“Some previous studies have relied on people reporting on their own levels of activity,” Wu said.

“With our large number of participants and the use of devices that provide objective measurements of activity levels, these results will have implications for assessing risk factors and developing interventions to prevent the development of these diseases,” Wu added.

Research presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on exercise and brain health.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology, news release, Feb. 27, 2025