ATLANTA, Ga. () — Physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle but a new study from the University of Georgia (UGA) has found another benefit. Being active may help prevent cognitive decline.

Cognitive decline is defined as is the gradual loss of thinking abilities, such as memory, reasoning and problem-solving.

Researchers at the UGA College of Public Health analyzed years of data from the national Health and Retirement Study, with more than 13,000 respondents over 50, and found that sustained physical activity can reduce the rate of cognitive decline for older adults.

Suhang Song, an assistant professor in the UGA Department of Health Policy and Management, said this data shows the importance of maintaining consistent physical activity throughout life.

“We found that longer and more frequent engagement in physical activity was associated with delayed cognitive decline. These protective benefits grew over the length of the study.”

Physical activities can include running, jogging, gardening, dancing, stretching and even housework like vacuuming and doing laundry. These were all associated with slowing the rate of cognitive decline. Increasing the frequency of these activities was also linked to a measurable slowing over time

Song said, “The improvement of the decline rate may seem modest, but it builds up over time. If this slower decline continues, it could potentially delay the onset of dementia by many years, giving people more time to live independently and maintain quality of life.”

Song also added that consistent physical activity may be a key component of any program aimed at reducing dementia risk in older adults.