Exercise could reduce epilepsy risk later in life for men

A new research has suggested that men who exercise vigorously as young adults may reduce their risk of developing epilepsy later in life.

Study author Elinor Ben-Menachem, PhD, MD, with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and an associate member of the American Academy of Neurology, said that there are a host of ways exercise has been shown to benefit the brain and reduce the risk of brain diseases.

For the study, 1.17 million Swedish men were given cycle tests that measured cardiovascular fitness when they enlisted for mandatory military service at age 18.

The participants were then assessed for epilepsy for an average of 25 years. During follow-up, 6,796 men were diagnosed with epilepsy.

The study found that men who had a high level of fitness were 79 percent less likely to develop epilepsy than those with low fitness levels and 36 percent less likely to develop epilepsy than those with medium fitness levels.

The proportion of men with high fitness who developed epilepsy in the study was 0.48 percent (2,381 out of 496,973 with high fitness). The proportion of men with medium fitness who developed epilepsy was 0.62 percent (3,913 out of 629,876 with medium fitness). The proportion of men with low fitness who developed epilepsy was 1.09 percent (502 out of 46,230 with low fitness).

The study has been published online in Neurology.