In 164 adults aged 50 to 89, steadier physical activity lined up with lower odds of mild cognitive impairment, and the link did not hold after correction

What the research found

A cross-sectional analysis was published on 11 November 2026. 164 adults aged 50 to 89 in the Human Connectome Project wore a wrist actigraph for 7 days. Forty-four had mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease. Models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, and comorbidities, and cognitive and biomarker models also adjusted for that diagnosis. Higher interdaily stability and a higher most-active 10-hour count lined up with lower odds of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease: odds ratio 0.65 (95 percent CI 0.44 to 0.95, false-discovery p=0.212) and 0.57 (95 percent CI 0.38 to 0.82, false-discovery p=0.053). Rhythm measures also lined up with verbal memory, language, and executive scores, and with glial and neurofilament markers, before correction. Higher stability and the most-active count lined up with higher phosphorylated tau217. None of these associations remained after false-discovery correction. The abstract does not give a sex split. The authors treat the wrist record as one view of brain aging. One week of physical activity, one time point. DOI 10.1007/s11357-026-02645-6. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at GeroScience