Human population around the world is becoming more and more older, hence a larger number of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease is appearing. A new study shows that around 15 million Americans will have this type of disease by 2050 which is double the amount of patients (7 million) that have it now.
"Today there are around 47 million people living in the US who have some sort of evidence about pre-clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. This means that they have an accumulation of protein fragments called beta-amiloids or a neurological brain degeneration, but still do not manifest any symptoms related to the illness.” said Dr. Ron Brookmeyer, a professor of Biostatistics from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a leading author of the study. The situation is a bit better in Europe and Australia, while the number of patients is most favourable in Asia.
It is important to point out how nutrition has a very important role in the prevention of diseases related to dementia. Also, adequate physical activity helps secure brain health which, in turn, affects the health of the entire human organism. Studies that have been run across the world prove that well-balanced and professionally-chosen martial arts exercizes positively affect Alzheimer's disease. Namely, at the end of the 20th century in China, many different studies have been published about the positive effects of practicing Tai Chi on persons suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Similar studies, after which professional articles have been published, have been written at the beginning of the 21st century in Japan, Europe, America and Australia. Although many scientific papers have been written about the effects of martial arts on the human organism, literature is pretty scarce when it comes to Alzheimer's disease.
Studies that were presented at the The Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Washington showed how scientists have proven that exercize has a significant effect on Alzheimer's disease in comparison to medication because it lowers the amount of protein responsible for the formulation of the disease. Also, published studies point to the fact that daily training of Tai Chi can positively affect the prevention and preservation of the health of people who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease, especially on their memory.
Scientists from the University of Texas have reported that certain physical exercize (this also includes a controlled exercize of certain martial arts several times a week) can slow down the hippocampus' degeneration (the part of the brain in charge of memory) in those patients who already have clusters of the toxic beta amiloid protein in their brain. Thanks to its known cardiovascular benefits, a medically-approved martial arts exercize programme is worth to be part of any kind of health plan.