A new study has documented that older women who are more active physically seem to be less likely to lose mental alertness. Studying nearly 6,000 women over a 6- to 8-year period, researchers related their mental performance to the total energy used each week in recreation, walking, and stairs climbed.

They were able to correlate loss of mental function with the number of blocks walked per week. The incidence of cognitive decline was highest in those who walked the fewest number of blocks and lowest in those who walked the most.

The authors note that this association was not explained by differences in baseline measurements or in health status, even after adjusting for age, educational level, other health disorders, smoking, estrogen use, and functional limitations. The women were all 65 or older and lived in the community (i.e., were not institutionalized).

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