Introduction: The preventive effects of chronic physical exercise (CPE) on Alzheimer's disease (AD) are now admitted by the scientific community. Curative effects of CPE are more disputed, but they deserve to be investigated, since CPE is a natural non-pharmacological alternative for the treatment of AD.
Areas covered: In this perspective, the authors discuss the impact of CPE on AD based on an exhaustive literature search using the electronic databases PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar.
Expert opinion: Aerobic exercise alone is probably not the unique solution and needs to be complemented by other exercises (physical activities) to optimize the slowing down of AD. Anaerobic, muscle strength and power, balance/coordination and meditative exercises may also help to slow down the AD progression. However, the scientific evidence does not allow a precise description of the best training program for patients with AD. Influential environmental conditions (e.g. social relations, outdoor or indoor exercise) should also be studied to optimize training programs aimed at slowing down the AD progression.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Alzheimer’s disease progression; activity of daily living; cognitive function; exercise; physical activity; slowing-down effects.