Not All Exercise Is Beneficial: The PA Paradox Explained
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Not All Exercise Is Beneficial: The Physical Activity Paradox Explained

Marilynn Larkin

November 27, 2023

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In the pursuit of optimal health, regular physical activity (PA) is recommended to protect against dementia, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and other noncommunicable diseases. A significant body of research suggests the benefits of PA are positively correlated with higher frequency and intensity — with more often deemed better. This research has spawned a focus on increasing step counts and investing in standing desks and other interventions aimed at keeping people active.

But for many people, PA is a work requirement over which they have little control, and emerging evidence suggests that these workers not only do not reap the benefits associated with leisure-time PA, but they also actually experience an increased risk for the very conditions that PA is intended to prevent.

A study published recently in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe used registry data from more than 7000 adults in Norway, following them from age 33 to 65 years, to assess PA trajectories and risks for later-life mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia at age 70 or older.

"Incorporating a life-course perspective gives a broader picture of how participants' occupational histories relate to cognitive impairment later in life," principal investigator Vegard Skirbekk, PhD, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York City, told

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