Physical exercise

The improvement of the physical fitness of people with dementia is related to better performance on activities of daily living and lower caregiver burden. Despite the detected beneficial effects on several areas of cognition in people with pre-dementia cognitive impairment, the effects of physical exercise in the stage of dementia are questionable. As elderly people in general, individuals with dementia are advised to perform at least 30 minutes of moderate (aerobic) exercise on at least five days a week. Such a recommendation seems to be in many cases unrealistic.