Midlife physical activity as a link to better mental health, functional status, and episodic memory in old-old women: Preliminary study

Midlife physical activity (PA) has been established as one of the modifiable lifestyle factors decreasing the risk of developing dementia. It is unclear whether it also helps with maintaining youthful episodic memory until very old age or becoming a SuperAger. SuperAger (SA) is a person aged 80+ with the episodic memory ability of 60-years old and age-appropriate performance in other cognitive domains. This study examined the association between midlife PA and later-life outcomes in cognition, mental health, and functional independence among women aged 80 and older. We compared 225 women who met WHO-recommended physical activity levels in midlife (PAW) with 70 normal controls. All participants were functionally independent and cognitively healthy at assessment. While overall cognitive performance was similar between the groups, PAW exhibited significantly lower levels of self-reported depression and anxiety, better functional independence and verbal episodic memory compared to controls. These differences remained significant after adjusting for age and education. Our findings provide preliminary correlational evidence for a positive association between WHO-recommended midlife PA and better mental health and episodic verbal memory in women aged 80+, though it did not confer significant advantages for SuperAging in this sample.