Want to avoid dementia? Study suggests you should hop on a bike

The Brief

Cycling is not only good for the planet and your fitness. New research suggests it may also help protect the brain. A large UK Biobank analysis reports that adults who used a bike for errands and other nonwork trips had a lower risk of developing dementia than those who relied on a car, bus, or train.

The cohort, published in JAMA Network Open , tracked participants for more than a decade. Researchers found meaningful risk differences tied to travel mode, even after adjusting for age, education, lifestyle, and health conditions.

Cycling and mixed-cycling were associated with lower rates of all-cause dementia, young-onset and late-onset dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Brain scans also linked cycling with greater hippocampal volume, a region central to memory and learning.