Accelerometer-derived hourly segmentation of daily physical activity frequency and brain health: A prospective cohort study in middle-aged/older adults - PubMed
3 days ago
- #neurological disorders
- #brain health
- #physical activity
- Physical activity (PA) enhances brain health, but prior research focused mainly on total PA volume, not hourly frequency.
- A study of 69,393 middle-aged/older adults used wrist-worn accelerometers to develop a novel PA frequency score, integrating light (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) across 18 hourly segments.
- Active and Very Active groups showed reduced risk of brain disorders (dementia, anxiety, depression, migraine, Parkinson's, stroke) over a 7.41-year follow-up.
- Each unit increase in PA frequency score correlated with a 51.55 mm³ reduction in white matter hyperintensities (WMH), offsetting ~2 months of age-related WMH progression.
- Associations remained significant independent of total LPA/MVPA volume, highlighting the importance of increasing hourly active segments for brain health.